LOS ANGELES | Downtown Project Rundown 6.0

[ChargerCarl]

I feel sorry for these people. Not only are they being priced out of the neighborhood, but they're being priced out of LA because NIMBYs have completely shut off the supply of new housing and commercial space in the region. Unfortunately people being displaced often make useful idiots for NIMBYs who use their plight to further retard growth.

[caligrad]

^^^ You feel sorry for the store owners?

I mean, there are a lot of empty store fronts in this city, its not like we are totally out of retail space on the cheap. Right next to this cellphone accessory store, there were four others in a two block radius just like it. Same with the Jean guy next door selling his cheap knockoffs. There was literally a dozen stores in the area selling the same crap jeans. One thing I noticed yesterday, being my first time in that specific area in a long time, most of the stores are selling the same exact thing for the same exact price.

It was like having five starbucks in a two block radius. That's stupid. And so is five identical cellphone accessory stores and five jean stores all selling the same thing. I honestly don't feel sorry for them, its time we have a bigger variety down there now anyway.

[ChargerCarl]

Why shouldn't I feel bad for them? We should build enough commercial space to keep rents from exploding.

[Wally West]

Originally Posted by caligrad

^^^ You feel sorry for the store owners?

One thing I noticed yesterday, being my first time in that specific area in a long time, most of the stores are selling the same exact thing for the same exact price.

It was like having five starbucks in a two block radius. That's stupid. And so is five identical cellphone accessory stores and five jean stores all selling the same thing. I honestly don't feel sorry for them, its time we have a bigger variety down there now anyway.

That's the way it's always been like in those districts. But I usually use this to my advantage to haggle. It always works because they know their neighbors have the same items at similar prices and are ready to work to beat their competition. That said, I can never buy my clothes there but I understand how people with limited funds will miss these shops once they close up.

And I think you're misplacing your frustrations at these renters. I'm sure they would rather sell their products in nicer buildings with more peds(despite these districts have the most ped activity in DTLA during the day time). It's not like it's their preferred choice to have crappy buildings.

That said, I think sometimes we have to suck up the frustrations of the people being moved out. I want people to understand the benefits of gentrification and to realize the transition period will suck for some people but ultimately it will be in the city's best interest in the long term. The more people understand this, the less opposition LA will have against new developments.

[Easy]

Originally Posted by caligrad

Thanks for the photo updates everybody. I truly needed that .

That being said, I was downtown today with some friends. We stopped at the Nickel Diner on Main for lunch. Really cool place.

But here's where things got interesting. After we ate, we walked around the area to see the changes. We turned a corner heading to Broadway and some lady was standing outside of her store trying to convince us to buy new cellphone covers. When we politely said no thank you, this was her very rude response

"see, this is why we don't like you new people moving in down here, you don't want to shop at our stores, you think you're too good for our stuff, people like you are why we go out of business"

which led to the store front owner right next door (who was selling the cheapest pair of jeans I've ever seen) to chime in on the conversation in agreement with her.

Has anyone else had this experience with the older "swapmeet like" stores in the area ? they seemed crazy hostile

The Latin shop owners rarely ask me to buy anything and certainly have never complained when I declined. Are you Hispanic? Maybe that would have something to do with it.

I almost had lunch at the nickel diner but decided on baco mercat instead. We almost accidentally had a SSP meetup. Haha.

[King Kill 'em]

Originally Posted by NativeOrange

Do I want BH completely yuppified? Not at all, but a little investment in the form of new development to clean the place up a bit wouldn't hurt.

Kind of like what's been happening with Westlake. The streets are getting cleaned up and there's a lot of new housing, but about half of that is affordable and nobody is being displaced to build it. The thing that makes Westlake more complex though is how the divided it is by highways making it less accesible on foot, though still very accesible by transit.

[jgacis]

Pics taken by me on July 31st, 2016...


DOWNTOWN PICS FOR A SUNDAY FIX...

Scenes of urban development and streetscapes as of July 31st, 2016 in downtown Los Angeles (South Park/Financial District)...





































































































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[Wally West]

Thanks for the great update, jgacis!

I'm really digging the pictures at 7th and Fig. Haven't seen Metropolis from that angle.

BTW it's nice to see people on reddit warning others about the Neighborhood Integrity Initiative petitions. I really hope it doesn't collect enough signatures on time but seeing how the petition collectors are bending the truth of how the initiative is for more affordable rents, I can see NII sneaking onto the March ballots.

[King Kill 'em]

Originally Posted by jgacis

I love this pic. It illustrates how out of place that gas station is.

[caligrad]

^^^ I've been counting down the days till somebody proposes something on that site. I wish somebody would dig up the City House and Olympic project and plop it here. The gas station and parking lot next to it is big enough to hold both towers.

Originally Posted by Easy

The Latin shop owners rarely ask me to buy anything and certainly have never complained when I declined. Are you Hispanic? Maybe that would have something to do with it.

I almost had lunch at the nickel diner but decided on baco mercat instead. We almost accidentally had a SSP meetup. Haha.

Interesting. I actually was going to bring that up but didn't want to sound weird. I'm actually Dominican, I speak with a slight Spanish twist when I'm with my friends and family sometimes and just so happens, I broke out in a little Spanish with my friends right when we walked passed the owners. Doesn't help that I dress like a spoiled "hipster" on my lazy days so they probably thought I had deep pockets.

I would have been down for a SSP meetup HAHA my friends don't have accounts but they frequent this page as lurkers and we were all down there just looking at the progress and taking pictures. You probably would have been surprised by my appearance though at 6'1, 220 with a beard ( I look like a bouncer). You probably would have said "and this is the dude with the diva attitude on SSP?"

*Edit*
Shout out to Jgacis. Thanks for the photo update

[caligrad]

Originally Posted by ChargerCarl

Why shouldn't I feel bad for them? We should build enough commercial space to keep rents from exploding.

I'm not comprehending this subject of not enough commercial space ? Just south of the 10 there are blocks and blocks of empty commercial retail space for rent. Just west of the 110 surrounding Macarthur there is empty retail space. East LA has no shortage of retail space. The malls are BEGGING for retail. There's no shortage of retail space in this county. The only thing we have a shortage of is housing (which ironically are all coming with some sort of ground floor retail).

No one promised them a cheap spot in the center of downtown. As time progresses they need to move on. "swap meet like" stores have squatted on Broadway and the surrounding area for long enough. If they cant pay for the rent, they need to move to somewhere they can. If Fig@7th was full of these hole in the wall shops and were blocking Target, Zara, Victoria secret and the others from moving in. Would we really feel bad for them ? or would we view them as a hinder on progress? if that's not the case, lets just turn Broadway back into the dump it was a decade ago and leave it as is because we "feel sorry for them" even though there are 10 dozen stores just like them around the corner in the Garment District and Santee Alley.

Originally Posted by Wally West

And I think you're misplacing your frustrations at these renters. I'm sure they would rather sell their products in nicer buildings with more peds(despite these districts have the most ped activity in DTLA during the day time). It's not like it's their preferred choice to have crappy buildings.

I forgot which building it was but in this case It wasn't the building, the building was actually pretty clean and nice itself. It was just HER store. Cluttered, trash on the floor, boxes stacked to the roof, stacks of empty food containers in the corner, what seemed to be her family lounging around, with what I'm guessing was her husband, sitting in the corner with his shoes off. If you want to be taken seriously in regards to being a legit business owner, at least she could have presented her store that way instead of getting hostile when we refused a $8 dollar case that was barely worth a dollar.

[cesar90]

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[King Kill 'em]

Originally Posted by caligrad

^^^ I've been counting down the days till somebody proposes something on that site. I wish somebody would dig up the City House and Olympic project and plop it here. The gas station and parking lot next to it is big enough to hold both towers.

I doubt it will happen any time soon. There's a lot of clean up you have to do when tearing down a gas station to use the land for another use. It will be one of the last hold outs in South Park and the owners would be smart to do that considering how much money they probably make. If anyone wants to bet when something will break ground there, i'll say 2030.

[King Kill 'em]

Originally Posted by caligrad

I'm not comprehending this subject of not enough commercial space ? Just south of the 10 there are blocks and blocks of empty commercial retail space for rent. Just west of the 110 surrounding Macarthur there is empty retail space. East LA has no shortage of retail space. The malls are BEGGING for retail. There's no shortage of retail space in this county. The only thing we have a shortage of is housing (which ironically are all coming with some sort of ground floor retail).

There's a lot of people just selling cheap stuff on the street around the park and subway station. Those people are super nice. Very friendly when I say I don't want to buy anything.

[cesar90]

Originally Posted by cesar90

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[blackcat23]

New renderings for potential Olympic venues

[blackcat23]

The Alexan gains LADCP approval

[Mojeda101]

Onni's double tower site on Flower was supposed to "start" today from what I was told. If anyone's in the area to investigate and see if the site itself has been fenced off or emptied out please post, thanks

[NSMP]

Originally Posted by blackcat23

The Alexan gains LADCP approval

Yes!

[headcheckjj]

Great news on The Alexan moving ahead.

Anyone have news on 920 Hill? Is that a pipe-dream, or do we expect it to actually happen?

Also, curious about two other projects: The Hill? 4th & Broadway?

Moderator Edit: No need to quote images if they are on the same page, unless you're pointing something out or asking a question specific to the picture AND need the content of that picture to make your point/ask your question.