Downtown LA Housing Construction: A Complete Listing - Page 47

Wright Concept · #**921** Posted **Jul 26, 2006, 6:26 PM**

^ Yep and at one time an IHOP.

Those establishments between Adams and Jefferson are anti-urban in scale. Except for that godawful Taco Bell all of these fast-food places at least open out to the street for pedestrians or folks wanting a bite to eat after a game at Galen Center. Maybe there's extra room on the ground floor retail portion that will allow a gradual transition from the anti-urban to urban scale, where those establishments will occupy that space which allow them to consildate and fill the holes. But the extra parking issue is actually a good one because of the lure of getting the NFL there will help with that.

In terms of a station on Adams for the Aqua Line or E train or Expo or whoever puts their foot down and figure out what the hell to call this thing so we can fund the second portion. But I digress.. No there's no station be planned because it would cost to much to reconfigure that lovely off-ramp of the 110 HOV to allow street access.
The stations being planned for this light rail line on Flower are: 7th, Pico, 23rd and Jefferson.

Carioca · #**922** Posted **Jul 27, 2006, 12:22 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by danlt73

thanks on the windows, those things suck! haha theyre huge.

hey danlt73,
thanks for the inside scoop on the pan american. is there really a problem with the windows? (or were you just being facetious?) i know that was a big hold up for them in the past. they changed window vendors mid stream...

are you still working down there? how is it progressing? THANKS!

chrisindowntown · #**923** Posted **Jul 27, 2006, 4:37 AM**

I usually take on a more reserved role in this group since you all sound so well informed. I heard about the LA Butler launch party as well and posted it around a few downtown yahoo groups! I think that this party is going to be a great social event for pro-downtowners. From what I've heard, lots of people are already going so sign up if you haven't already. Oh yah, I'll be the guy holding an apple martini in one hand and an applie martini in the other (yes they are both for me!) A Dollar off sounds twice as fun! Post this info on other groups that you know of, can't wait to finally meet everyone.

Chris -

http://www.labutlercard.com

Quote:

Originally Posted by colemonkee

I'll try to make it to that if I'm not out of town. You should send a reminder. Seems like a great event for a forum mini-meet, especially for all the new Elleven forumers and recent dt residents.

LongBeachUrbanist · #**924** Posted **Jul 27, 2006, 4:43 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by colemonkee

Does anyone know if a stop is planned in the area around Adams and Flower? Or is the first stop on that line at USC/Expo Park?

There will be a 23rd/Flower Station. This is near where the freeway goes diagonally under Flower and Figueroa Streets. I would've preferred Adams/Flower, but at least this station will serve Trade Tech College. My hope is that someday the big freeway underpass can be decked over with a park. But I wouldn't count on it: the powers that be would like to one day continue the Harbor Expressway northward, and I think a deck would preclude this.

There will also be a Jefferson/Flower Station. This will be behind the new Galen Center. The nearby intersection of Jefferson/Figueroa will have the new University Gateway as well. Hopefully, Felix will vacate too, allowing some nice urban development on that corner.

The next stop will be Exposition/Vermont (not Jefferson/Vermont, thanks PV).

Although the "USC/Expo Park" station has been approved, it will only be built if funds become available for it (*cough* USC *cough*). But as of now it is not going to be built as part of the Expo Phase I project.

Wright Concept · #**925** Posted **Jul 27, 2006, 5:16 AM**

LBU, It's Exposition/Vermont not Jefferson.

LongBeachUrbanist · #**926** Posted **Jul 27, 2006, 3:19 PM**

^ Thanks, it's fixed now. Also, I see you had already explained it before me. Oh well.

colemonkee · #**927** Posted **Jul 27, 2006, 6:06 PM**

If they have a stop at Exposition and Vermont, they really don't need an Expo Park stop. Expo and Vermont is close enough to walk to both Expo Park and USC. Having stops that close will just add unnecessary time to the ride. Does anyone know if the station is planned for the east or west side of Vermont?

Wright Concept · #**928** Posted **Jul 27, 2006, 6:31 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by colemonkee

If they have a stop at Exposition and Vermont, they really don't need an Expo Park stop. Expo and Vermont is close enough to walk to both Expo Park and USC. Having stops that close will just add unnecessary time to the ride.

True, but consider those Trojan football/NFL fans who may be using the line to avoid parking and the fact that the Trousdale Crossing will slow the speed down a little anyways, might as well include a station and improve capacity and access to the area for those events. It can be a simple platform with canopy nothing grand. Or a compromise can be to make the platforms at Vermont 100' longer or 5' wider on both platforms to address this potential overflow capacity.

Quote:

Originally Posted by colemonkee

Does anyone know if the station is planned for the east or west side of Vermont?

Both. They will be split/side platforms with the Westbound (to Santa Monica)platform proposed on the Westside of Vermont, Eastbound (to Downtown) on the East between Vermont and Menlo.

Quixote · #**929** Posted **Jul 27, 2006, 8:00 PM**

Here is that project that logandankr informed us about a long time ago! Thanks to hcrz from SSC.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hcrz

Here is a rendering of the Park Fifth Project

It will be located on 5th street between Olive and Hill. It will have three towers, one of them will be the tallest residential tower west of Chicago.
The project includes 900 units some of which will be what they call live-work bays.

Quixote · #**930** Posted **Jul 27, 2006, 9:43 PM**

View from another angle. The third tower is the 'midsection' so really only two towers.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hcrz

I guess is not a tower per se but rather the midsection that brings the two tall towers together

logandankr · #**931** Posted **Jul 27, 2006, 9:56 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Westsidelife

View from another angle. The third tower is the 'midsection' so really only two towers.

Or 4 towers, depending on what you call a tower. Those "midsections" that connect the two larger towers are 14 flrs each (unless the plans have changed since I heard about them).

An observation from the rendering - it kind of looks like the orange section on the left is a couple stories off the ground. I wonder if that would be for parking or a pedestrian opening into the "fortress." That opening is what faces the park, so it much be some important architectural feature to not have units in that space taking advanage of the view.

Quixote · #**932** Posted **Jul 27, 2006, 10:07 PM**

That makes sense. What about the building with the black windows below the smaller tower? Is that an existing building or part of the project? As for the left 'midsection' I'd prefer it to be touching the ground but it'd be cool if it was above street level.

Quixote · #**933** Posted **Jul 27, 2006, 10:11 PM**

From the renderings, the midsections are of the same height or about the same height as the Title Guarantee Building. So imagine the visual impact of the entire project.

logandankr · #**934** Posted **Jul 27, 2006, 10:11 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Westsidelife

...What about the building with the black windows below the smaller tower? Is that an existing building or part of the project?...

Or parking maybe? Maybe that's why it's designated with a different color. Looks like whoever posted these renderings cropped a lot off the sides - I think everything would be a lot more clear if we had the text from those dotted lines.

Another note - those 2 orange buildings are really on top of the the Title Guarantee Building. Almost looks like they're connected, but I'm thinking that's just the perspective of the drawing.

Steve2726 · #**935** Posted **Jul 27, 2006, 10:13 PM**

Quixote · #**936** Posted **Jul 27, 2006, 10:15 PM**

Also, if the plans haven't changed, then the tallest tower (65) will be taller than the California Plaza Tower in the above photo.

Quixote · #**937** Posted **Jul 27, 2006, 10:17 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve2726

I believe that is the Title Guarantee Building:

I was referring to the building on the corner of Fifth and Olive. The one at the corner of Fifth and Hill is indeed the Title Guarantee Building.

colemonkee · #**938** Posted **Jul 28, 2006, 4:49 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Westsidelife

That makes sense. What about the building with the black windows below the smaller tower? Is that an existing building or part of the project? As for the left 'midsection' I'd prefer it to be touching the ground but it'd be cool if it was above street level.

The building with the black "windows" is part of the project. That corner is currently a parking lot. If you look at the colored massing model, it appears that the building with the horizontal black "windows" is a parking garage, the orange areas are the live/work "pods" (which appear to be two stories, like the live/work spaces on the ground floor of Elleven), and the blue areas are the condos.

What I don't like about the design of the tower is how they repeat that cutaway and triple "eyebrow" motif on every corner, alternating it on different sides as it goes up. If that motif was there once, or perhaps twice, it would be a nice way to break up a tall, sleek, slender tower. But when they repeat it like this, it just looks messy, busy and tacky - in a sort of bad-dream-from-1980's-Miami way. The result is a tower that's as sleek as cheese grater and as refined as a Hooter's T-shirt.

Also, the urban planning of this is a nightmare. It appears that they've put a giant "hole" at street level along fifth street that leads into a courtyard, which looks up to a parking garage. That's wasting the best stretch of ground floor retail potential - along 5th Street facing Pershing Square. What, do they plan to put retail along Olive Street? So you can walk up a steep hill? Or better yet, inside the courtyard??

If they wanted to do this right, they would close up that ridiculous hole and put retail along 5th street, and extend a 2-3 story podium behind the retail throughout the entire site that would contain parking inside and a landscaped courtyard with pool in the center. That way residents of this development would have killer views of the Subway Terminal building (Metro417) - especially at night - and Forrest City could charge an arm and a leg to hundreds of voyeurs who would be tripping over themselves to get "pool view" apartments. It would also create a lot more parking spaces that could be used for events like Grand Performances or ice skating at Pershing Square. My guess is that they can't go underground for parking on the east side of this site with the subway being right there.

They really need to go back to the drawing board on this one, IMO.

citywatch · #**939** Posted **Jul 28, 2006, 5:15 AM**

The only reason I don't want to get too analytical about the proj next to metro417 right now is because we still don't know how reliable the devlpr & funders are.

I'm still

about the inability of the devlprs of the Medallion to move forward on their proj, esp since they originally gave specific dates when they said they'd break ground. And all the commotion several wks ago over the significance of the shutting down (which was short lived) of the parking lot at 8th & Grand didn't help matters either.

I saw a video posted on a web site not long ago that showed the view MTA bus riders had as they were being driven north on Olive towards 5th St. As the vid came to scenes of Pershing Sq & then the parking lots along the east side of Olive north of 5th St, I was reminded why it's so important that new devlpt take place on those lots ASAP.

All that blacktop wrings the life out of the hood, & metro417 & the Title Guarantee bldg now being converted to condos both deserve a much nicer neighbor.

Wright Concept · #**940** Posted **Jul 28, 2006, 12:44 PM**

^ But a bad design can be as bad or worse of a deadzone than a parking lot. Case in point take a look at Pershing Square across the street from this project. And the current design interration of this project proves it.

Cole, The Subway of the Red Cars is directly beneath Metro 417 footprint, and the current subway is on Hill Street. They could do underground parking, they're building a high-rise on that site that will require deep foundations, chances are they have to go underground, in order to ensure that the structure of this building doesn't interfere with the structure of the Subway station box on Hill Street between 4th and 5th.