Greater Los Angeles Region: Projects and Developments

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7-story Mixed-User Proposed on Wilshire Boulevard in Koreatown
http://la.curbed.com/2016/7/13/12175...mison-wilshire

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Turner/AECOM Selected To Build New Stadium For Los Angeles Rams

Hollywood Park Land Company, which is owned by The Kroenke Group, said today that it has selected the team of Turner Construction Co. and AECOM to oversee construction of a 70,000-seat stadium for the Los Angeles Rams. This new, world-class sports and entertainment venue is the centerpiece of a 298-acre mixed-use project being built in Inglewood, California by Hollywood Park Land Company.

Turner/AECOM is a joint venture combining two of the world's largest construction and engineering management firms. Between them, they have built 17 stadiums for National Football League teams and renovated 10 others. Over the past 15 years, Turner and AECOM have been the two largest builders of sports venue projects in the world.

"After a competitive review of a number of outstanding construction firms, we have hired the best team to build the largest and most technologically advanced sports stadium in the world for the Los Angeles Rams," said Terry Fancher, president of the Hollywood Park Land Co. "These firms also offered a well-developed plan for meeting Hollywood Park's commitment to provide substantial employment opportunities for local Inglewood residents and meaningful economic participation in the stadium construction process for minority-owned business enterprises."

"This is a key milestone in the process of bringing the NFL and the Rams back to Los Angeles," said Kevin Demoff, chief operating officer & executive vice president of football operations of the Los Angeles Rams. "While we will call the LA Coliseum home for the next three seasons, we are pleased to work with Turner/AECOM to build our new stadium in Inglewood. This world-class venue will showcase not only NFL games, but also international and national events, in 2019 and beyond."

Turner Construction Co. is the largest general contractor in North America and has more than 40 offices across the U.S. and Canada. Turner has had a separate engagement for the past two years of providing demolition, grading and infrastructure construction services at the site of the former Hollywood Park racetrack.

AECOM is a publicly traded international project management and engineering-services company based in Los Angeles. AECOM employs more than 95,000 people worldwide and had revenue of $19 billion in fiscal 2015.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-relea...300299170.html

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Video Link

$300-Million Redondo Beach Waterfront Project Moves Ahead

The proposed $300-million development from real estate firm CenterCal Properties reimagines approximately 36 acres of land surrounding the Redondo Beach Pier as a waterfront village, featuring more than 500,000 square feet of recreational and commercial facilities.

The northern half of the project site, currently an expansive parking lot with several small restaurants, would be developed with new commercial buildings featuring a specialty theater, a public market and creative office space. A new main street - flanked by shops and restaurants - would cut through the center of the property.

The existing Seaside Lagoon would be modified with a new boat launch ramp, a parking structure, a bicycle path and enhanced pedestrian access. Additionally, plans call for approximately 11 acres of green space throughout the project.

At the southern portion of the site, plans call for the demolition of the several existing structures, including the a plaza, the International Boardwalk and the Pier parking garage. In their place, CenterCal would construct a 120-room boutique hotel, a new parking garage, as well as pedestrian-oriented shops and restaurants.

Construction is expected to commence in 2017.

http://urbanize.la/post/300-million-...ct-moves-ahead

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Originally Posted by Forbes

America's Best Hipster Neighborhoods

1. Silver Lake, Los Angeles, CA

http://www.forbes.com/pictures/mhj45...-angeles-ca-2/
https://www.airbnb.com/locations/los...es/silver-lake

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West Hollywood's Famed 'Factory' Might Be Preserved Instead of Demolished
The legendary gay club would be incorporated in a new development
http://la.curbed.com/2016/7/15/12199...y-preservation

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Here Are the New Renderings of Big Revamp Coming to the Soon-to-Be Former Ikea Burbank Site
http://la.curbed.com/2016/7/20/12241...amp-renderings

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Demoff said it’s crucial that the Inglewood location will have an entertainment district attached to the stadium.

“We had to give people a reason to come down,” he added. “We designed the stadium with Los Angeles and Hollywood in mind. The NBA has courtside seats and the NFL doesn’t, but our focus throughout the building is that you design it to replicate what we see in our daily lives in L.A. But the main thing is winning on the field. It starts with having a great football product.”

Kroenke noted that the return of the Rams coincides with the globalization of pro sports.

“When you look at where we are focused as a league, Rams are playing the Giants in London this season, Arsenal is playing over here and the NBA is playing games in London,” he said. “The upshot is that sports is so global, and within the last few years, and that’s where I think people are focusing for growth. Los Angeles is so important to NFL – some people call it gateway to South America and Asia.”

http://variety.com/2016/tv/news/la-r...fl-1201814563/

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Torkian Construction principal proposes 218-unit apartment complex in Westlake
http://therealdeal.com/la/2016/07/14...x-in-westlake/

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The world's best theme park dark ride just got better

For those who have never been on the world’s best dark ride, Forbidden Journey literally turns the traditional dark ride experience on its head by placing riders on the end of a unique robotic arm as they travel past domed projection screens and animatronic characters.

For those who have visited Universal’s Islands of Adventure, the West Coast version of Forbidden Journey adds 3-D imagery to the domed screen segments that were only 2-D when the ride debuted in 2010 at the Florida theme park.

http://www.latimes.com/travel/themep...404-story.html

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Snapchat CEO and supermodel Miranda Kerr buy Brentwood home for $12M
http://www.tmz.com/2016/05/08/mirand...egel-buy-home/
http://therealdeal.com/la/2016/05/09...-home-for-12m/

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Zillow CEO Overpaid for His Los Angeles Home, According to Zillow
http://la.curbed.com/2016/7/11/12157...imate-overpaid

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Universal Studios Hollywood Park Update and Annual Pass Changes
http://micechat.com/132357-universal...-pass-changes/

Below, in the Backlot, we find construction on an unannounced new attraction next to Transformers.


What is now being called Soundstage 29 on the studio tour is coming along.


Meanwhile, at Falls Lake, construction for the boat set (on an undisclosed film project) continues. This thing is huge.

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Los Angeles And San Francisco Vie For Innovation Status

Technology innovation has now become so ingrained with the growth of local economies that many cities are seeing more than one hub spring up within their boundaries. Two prominent examples are in California — Los Angeles and San Francisco.

The Northern California Bay Area is now comprised of two distinct districts — the traditional, hard core tech-focused Silicon Valley centered on Santa Clara and the startups of all kinds in San Francisco’s Mission district and surroundings.

In Southern California, the key hubs are defined as Silicon Beach around Santa Monica area and towards the mountains — let’s call it for now, Silicon Gabriel, for now – in Pasadena.

In both markets, accelerators, incubators, co-working spaces, startups and business services vie for best positioning. It’s important to be at the center of activity, particularly for those catering to the millennial generation, who aren’t about to spend hours in a car getting to work.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/rebeccaf.../#6fc8ce842840

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First Look at the Hotel That Could be Built at Sunset Junction
http://la.curbed.com/2016/7/27/12297...unset-junction

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Is Frank Gehry Finally Building his Dream Home?

Renowned architect Frank Gehry has been talking for years about building a new home to free himself and his family from the quirky Santa Monica residence they've lived in since the 70s, one of his first big statements on deconstructivism. In 2004, the Los Angeles Times interviewed Gehry about his budding plans to build a new house in a low-key corner of Venice. The compound was designed to be decidedly unlike anything the architect had done before, a request of his wife, Berta.

Gehry has waited more than a decade to begin construction on his dream home, at one point abandoning the site in Venice to begin designing a second Santa Monica house, a dramatic structure with a playful roof and huge timber beams. Work is underway now on both properties—two new homes by a Los Angeles architect who continues to brand this city with his postmodernist style.

http://la.curbed.com/2016/7/26/11965...-monica-venice

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Clippers Interested In Moving To The Westside, Says Report

Clippers owner Steve Ballmer has begun to explore potential sites for a new Clippers arena, multiple NBA sources said.

The Clippers would neither confirm nor deny they are actively searching for a location, but one NBA source said that an area that piques the franchise's interest is Los Angeles' west side.

Building a new arena in the Los Angeles area comes with major challenges, which would start with finding a site with ample acreage for the arena and parking, followed by a process that would include environmental impact reports and submitting thorough plans to the municipality.

In addition to Staples Center, the Los Angeles basin is already home to several major sporting venues, including the Forum in Inglewood. It is currently undergoing a massive upgrade by the Madison Square Garden Company, whose executive chairman is James Dolan, owner of the New York Knicks.

One league source said the Clippers have identified six locations, all in southern California. At the Geekwise Sports Tech Summit, Ballmer emphasized he had no plans to relocate the Clippers.

"The Clippers are not going anywhere, ever," Ballmer said. "I will die owning the L.A. Clippers in Los Angeles."

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/17...clippers-arena

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Frank Gehry’s Sunset Strip project is approved — ‘I will do my best to make you proud’

Celebrity architect Frank Gehry’s big residential and retail project on the Sunset Strip is a go. The city’s planning commission on Thursday voted unanimously to give final approval to a cluster of Gehry-designed buildings at 8150 Sunset Boulevard.

Its location at Crescent Heights, directly across from favorite celebrity-haunt Chateau Marmont, is prime, and the developer, Townscape Partners, says it’s an iconic design that will serve as the "eastern gateway" to the strip.

The five buildings with varying heights from three to 15 stories will hold 249 residential units, 15 percent of which will be rented below market rate to tenants with lower incomes. That percentage is an increase from what was initially proposed, a request made by commissioners. Plans also call for a market, restaurant, stores, and new bank. There’s also public space and a public plaza, landscaped with jacaranda and palm trees, plus about 800 parking spaces.

The architecture is classic Gehry. The latest renderings and models show the edges of the buildings curve and undulate, and some look as if they’re bulging. Vertical panels shoot up around the perimeters of rooftops. Large shingles are slapped on the outside of the tallest building. One of the shorter buildings looks like it’s sheathed in twisted columns. The facades will be made of stone and glass with some wood accents.

http://la.curbed.com/2016/7/29/12315...oject-approved
http://urbanize.la/post/gehry-design...ing-commission

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Promise of 1,500 LA Rams jobs draws crowd to Coliseum

People line up for interviews during a job fair at the Expo Center for people interested in stadium jobs during Los Angeles Rams games. More than 1,500 positions will be available at the job fair, which is being held by Contemporary Services Corp. in conjunction with the South Los Angeles WorkSource Center and EXPO Center. Available positions include guest services, ushers, security officers and other event staff. Los Angeles, CA. July 28, 2016.

http://www.dailynews.com/sports/2016...wd-to-coliseum

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Legendary Barney’s Beanery could become part of new hotel

A proposal to put a 113-room hotel on the West Hollywood site occupied by Barney’s Beanery was presented Wednesday evening to locals by developers Barneys VE LLC, a joint venture of VE Equities and Plus Development Group. The hotel’s most unusual feature is that Barney’s would be, "disassembled and then restored to its current location at the center of the site," reports Wehoville—no small task, as the interior of restaurant and bar is adorned in posters and Christmas lights and filled with knickknacks.

Barney’s Beanery opened in the 1920s and has traditionally been a hangout for bohemian types from Jim Morrison to Quentin Tarantino. (It was also known for a misspelled sign demanding that "Fagots stay out," but that came down in 1984.)

In addition to hotel rooms, the five-story project at 8447 Santa Monica Boulevard would have an underground live music venue and a recording studio. Where the Barney’s would be reinserted on the site, the building’s floors, "are cut back and angled in a faceted fashion to highlight the restaurant’s connection to the pedestrian experience on Santa Monica Boulevard," said Christian Robert of R&A Architecture + Design Inc., the principal architect for the project.

The top floors of the hotel ring a landscaped, U-shaped courtyard. The drop-off and pick-up spots for the hotel would also be underground in an attempt to cut down on gridlock along the street. The project would also have about 244 underground parking spaces where there’s currently a surface parking lot.

http://la.curbed.com/2016/7/28/12319...west-hollywood