Greater Los Angeles Region: Projects and Developments

[dragonsky]

Why a huge sports complex is pegged for Lake Elsinore

The proposed Lake Elsinore Diamond Sports Center would feature about 520,000 square feet of indoor floor space split between two levels. The center is targeted for 23 acres abutting the north side of the Lake Elsinore Diamond minor-league baseball stadium.

“The magnitude of this project is huge, arguably the biggest of its kind,” Lake Elsinore Community Development Director Grant Taylor said.

The 433,000-square-foot ground floor could accommodate 58 volleyball courts or be divided into 33 basketball courts. In addition, it would feature a championship arena with seating for 3,000 fans, a food court and family-style restaurant.

An 89,000-square-foot upper level would line the inner perimeter while overlooking the courts and arena. It would offer a sports bar, VIP suites, team rooms, offices and other functional uses. The building would be wired to allow for national television broadcasts, according to a news release from the applicant, LE Diamond Holdings.

If built according to plan, the Lake Elsinore complex would offer more courts and more than double the floor space of the American Sports Centers-Anaheim in the Orange County, which is touted on its website as the largest indoor court facility in the world.

http://www.pe.com/articles/sports-81...-elsinore.html

[dragonsky]

New Look for Playa Vista Office Building

The $70-million project, which is slated for a vacant lot near the intersection of Lincoln and Jefferson Boulevards, would consist of a six-story structure featuring approximately 128,000 square feet of creative office space.

Renderings portray a contemporary design with punched windows and a translucent metal canopy. The new building would be linked the the existing Water's Edge complex through a shared amenity center.

WE3 is being developed by a joint venture between real estate firm DivcoWest and Robert Maguire, the legendary Los Angeles builder behind landmark Downtown projects such as the U.S. Bank Tower.

http://urbanize.la/post/new-look-pla...ffice-building

[dragonsky]

Carson promises Fashion Outlets of Los Angeles at site considered for NFL stadium

This time, they say, the Fashion Outlet of Los Angeles will materialize.

Santa Monica-based Macerich real-estate investment trust held a joint community meeting with city officials Monday night to show residents — PowerPoint presentation and all — that they’re serious about building the outlet mall.

“We’re moving fast and furious” to complete development plans, Macerich’s Executive Vice President Randy Brant said. “We’re treating this like the deal is done. We expect to start construction next year.”

The Fashion Outlets of Los Angeles at Carson would open in late 2018 or early 2019, he said. It would front the 405 Freeway between Del Amo and Avalon boulevards in a long, narrow 46-acre strip. The roughly 500,000-square-foot shopping center would include 150 stores.

http://www.sgvtribune.com/business/2...or-nfl-stadium

[dragonsky]

LA is hosting one of the biggest championships in the world and you (probably) didn’t know it

On Saturday, thousands of fans will flood downtown Los Angeles and tens of millions more will watch online as the most popular video game competition in the world, the League of Legends World Championship, closes out its finals at Staples Center.

You may have started tuning out at “video game” and you maybe scoff at the idea of “eSports,” but last year, 36 million people around the world watched the finals for League of Legends. That’s more than tuned in for World Series, the NBA Finals and the Stanley Cup Final.

Released in 2009 by Santa Monica-based Riot Games, League of Legends has rapidly become one of the most played video games in world. While the majority of its 100 million a month players live in Asia, plenty of players reside in the U.S.

http://www.sgvtribune.com/technology...-didnt-know-it

[dragonsky]

Santa Monica Proper Hotel Begins Construction

The Kor Group, a Los Angeles-based real estate firm, has announced the start of construction for a luxury lifestyle hotel in Downtown Santa Monica.

The Santa Monica Proper, which is being developed in partnership with landowner Alex Gorby and the Merchant Banking Division of Goldman Sachs, will feature 271 guest rooms at 7th Street and Wilshire Boulevard, just a few blocks from the Pacific Ocean.

Kor's project includes the renovation of a 1928 Spanish Colonial Revival building along Wilshire, as well as the construction of an adjacent building that blends with the historic architecture. In addition to the guest rooms, the buildings would also feature, 7,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space, 8event space, a rooftop lounge and a swimming pool

The hotel, which is being designed by Howard Laks Architects, is expected by late 2018 or early 2019.

http://urbanize.la/post/santa-monica...s-construction

[dragonsky]

Villa hotel project approved in Palm Springs

I’ve been hearing a lot of interest and buzz among readers about a new hotel concept planned for downtown Palm Springs.

Home Partners, an Irvine-based development firm, plans to build 14 “villa” hotel units on an empty rectangle of desert at 282 S. Indian Canyon Drive (near the Baristo Road intersection.)

The project would consist of multi-story units, arranged as a meandering collection of minimalist white cubes, which would total 81 bedrooms. The project would also include a banquet and café facility. The outdoor space would be multi-use and available for private events. Last week, the project received unanimous approval from the Palm Springs Planning Commission.

http://www.desertsun.com/story/money...ey=&autologin=

[dragonsky]

L.A. City Council approves Frank Gehry's project on the Sunset Strip

The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved a mixed-use development designed by Frank Gehry that will anchor the eastern edge of the Sunset Strip.

The relatively swift approval of the project Tuesday was a contrast to last week’s three-hour discussion on the famed architect’s design for 8150 Sunset Blvd. The five-building complex at Sunset and Crescent Heights boulevards will include two residential towers, terraced gardens and a shopping center.

Elected officials for both Los Angeles and West Hollywood as well as some neighborhood groups had voiced concern about the project, which originally included a 234-foot-tall tower. Critics believed the tower would be out of scale with the neighborhood. Others worried the project would bring too much traffic to an already busy intersection.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/l...101-story.html

[dragonsky]

Campus Development to Break Ground in Chatsworth

Uncommon, a real estate firm founded by Jason Larian and Ryan Hekmat, has announced the groundbreaking of "24," a campus-style development in Chatsworth consisting of apartments, creative offices and retail space.

The 24-acre site at Winnetka Avenue and Prairie Street, formerly a Los Angeles Times printing plant, is slated to become the new headquarters of MGA Entertainment, a manufacturer of toys and electronics, including the popular Bratz dolls. The project calls for the adaptive reuse of the former printing facility, creating approximately 255,000 square feet of office space. Additionally, Uncommon intends to build a series of low-rise structures on the surrounding parking lots, creating 660 apartments above shops and restaurants, interspersed with community-oriented green space.

According to a master plan by Santa Monica-based Killefer Flammang Architects, the development will also incorporate a gymnasium, two swimming pool plazas, a sports park, community gardens, a pre-school, a yoga studio, outdoor walking tracks and an amphiteater.

http://urbanize.la/post/campus-devel...und-chatsworth
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...103-story.html

[dragonsky]

Culver City creative office project back from the dead with new design

It’s been quite a while since there was movement on a Culver City project between Centinela and the 405 Freeway called Entrada. It looks like Centinela Development Partners has been taking time to reassess and redesign the project, because new plans first spotted by Urbanize LA call for a shorter and smaller building. The revised plans are an attempt to adapt to “changed market conditions” that favor a certain kind of creative office space.

The previous project, which had been approved by Culver City, was for a 13-story office tower. The reworked version is a six-story office building that would sit atop a five-level parking garage for a total height of 11 stories, says ULA. (There would be five levels of above-ground parking and two levels of underground parking.) The podium would be hidden behind a large green wall, as renderings show.

The new Entrada, when finished, would hold more than 270,000 square feet of office space and offer parking for more than 1,000 cars. Parking space would be shared by people working within the building and a nearby DoubleTree hotel, as the construction of the new building would mean the demise of a 265-lot hotel parking lot.

http://la.curbed.com/2016/11/7/13554...ada-new-design

[dragonsky]

Wilshire Boulevard, once a mecca for drivers, is trying a different path. It could offer a blueprint for L.A.

Los Angeles built Wilshire Boulevard as a majestic path for the automobile, and perhaps no place reflected that grandeur more than the Miracle Mile.

In its heyday, this stretch of Wilshire offered drivers wide roadways divided by palm tree-lined medians and ornate street lamps built around sculpted metal of svelte topless women. Back then, the Miracle Mile was one of L.A.’s top shopping destinations, with gleaming neon signs luring drivers to sprawling parking lots behind the streamline-designed stores.

The retail scene on Wilshire began fading decades ago as department stores closed and shopping malls became more dominant. But over the last few years, the Miracle Mile has been the center of a remarkable transformation that offers a window into what a Los Angeles of the future might look like.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/l...104-story.html

[dragonsky]

Want to be LA developer? Voters demand more affordable housing

Early results show Los Angeles voters are favoring a ballot measure that would require developers to provide affordable housing if they want to be exempted from existing zoning and planning rules.

Initiative Ordinance JJJ was passing with 59.74 percent of the vote.

The measure, put forward by labor groups, would apply to residential projects that include more than 10 units and require general plan amendments or certain types of zoning changes. Under the proposal, the projects would need to meet affordable housing, training, local hiring and prevailing wage requirements.

http://mynewsla.com/government/2016/...dable-housing/

[dragonsky]

Measure A Passes, Los Angeles Voters Approved Tax Hike for Parks

A measure that would impose a 1 1/2-cent-per-square- foot tax on improved properties in Los Angeles County to fund parks development and maintenance was being narrowly approved Tuesday night.

The proposed Measure A tax would raise an estimated $94 million annually, and the annual tax bill for a 1,500-square-foot house would be $22.50, according to the county.

The tax assessment would be based on the square footage of structures, not the overall size of the parcel of land on which a building sits. Parking structures would be exempt from the tax.

http://patch.com/california/beverlyh...tax-hike-parks

[dragonsky]

Proposed Tower Moves Forward Across from the Beverly Center

Caruso Affiliated, the company helmed by developer/outdoor-mall maker Rick Caruso, is making some tweaks to his planned 333 La Cienega residential complex as it moves through the planning process, says Urbanize LA. After a presentation to the Mid City West Community Council, ULA says Caruso got the approval of the council’s Board of Directors by agreeing to a few terms that enhance the building’s effect on the community—setting aside 10 percent of the units in the development as affordable, and adding streetscape improvements including protected bike lanes and new crosswalks. (The neighborhood council doesn't have the final say, but its approval is a good start.)

Additionally, Caruso is looking into possibly increasing the size of an already planned plaza element of the development. The plaza could eventually stretch "farther south by reclaiming street space," says ULA.

http://la.curbed.com/2016/10/19/1332...so-development
http://urbanize.la/post/proposed-tow...beverly-center

[dragonsky]

Alexander: CBU's last hurrah for old gym, preparation for new arena

Cal Baptist’s men’s basketball team opens its regular season Friday afternoon in cozy Van Dyne Gym, with a 4 p.m. game against Montana State-Billings as part of a four-team tournament.

What was once a skeleton of girders and framework has taken shape. The building currently known as the CBU Events Center — and that name almost certainly will change when a donor or a sponsor kicks in the right amount of money — is more than 60 percent complete.

Those who are allowed to tour the interior of the construction site can at last visualize the finished product: a $73 million, 153,000 square foot facility, with 5,050 seats (and room to expand to more than 6,000) for basketball, concerts, commencement and chapel and other campus uses, which CBU administrators have stressed will take up the vast majority of the available dates.

http://www.pe.com/articles/friday-81...riverside.html

Great to have something like this in Riverside.

[dragonsky]

Thrills are par for the course at new $60 million Porsche facility in Carson

The driver’s timing is off and the 420-horsepower car spins around on the ice aimlessly. But it’s not in danger. This was just a test run around the new track at the Porsche Experience Center in Carson.

The $60 million Carson complex opens to the public on Friday on the site of the former Dominguez Hills Golf Course adjacent to the 405 Freeway at 19800 S. Main St., across from the docking site of the West Coast’s Goodyear blimp.

The facility is home to 4.1 miles of winding roadway courses designed to flummox and excite the most experienced drivers.

http://www.sgvtribune.com/lifestyle/...lity-in-carson

[dragonsky]

Work Underway at Santa Monica's Trailer Park Redevelopment
Multifamily residential complex rises near Expo Line Station.

The Millennium East Village, which is rising from a 3.5-acre site at 2930 Colorado Avenue, will consist of a series of five-story buildings featuring 374 residential units, coming in studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom floor plans. Approved plans call for 38 of the apartments to be set aside as affordable housing, as well as 25,000 square feet of commercial space along Colorado Boulevard.

Renderings of the development, which is being designed by the Cuningham Group, portray modern buildings, intersected with walkways and open space. Cunignham's website describes the Village as a "fluid, interconnected campus," reconnecting a sprawling development site with the surrounding street grid.

http://urbanize.la/post/work-underwa...-redevelopment

Colorful structures are a great way to add some bright colors to your space.

[dragonsky]

Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza Development Moves Forward with Revisions

With the release of its final environmental impact report, minor revisions have emerged for the plan to redevelop the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza shopping mall with two million square feet of apartments, office space, hotel rooms and pedestrian-oriented shops and restaurants.
The proposed office building, slated for the corner of Crenshaw Boulevard and 39th Street, is now planned as a 10-story, 135-foot structure with slightly over 143,000 square feet of leasable floor area. The height has been trimmed from the original 145-foot plan through an increase in floor-to-ceiling heights.

The hotel, originally a 12-story structure, has been cut to approximately 10 floors. The number of proposed guest rooms remains unchanged at a maximum of 400.

In addition to the hotel and office buildings, Capri's development would create 551 condominiums, 410 apartments, 7,000 structured parking stalls and approximately 332,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space.

http://urbanize.la/post/baldwin-hill...ward-revisions
http://la.curbed.com/2016/11/22/1371...er-development

[dragonsky]

Mixed-Use Development Rises at Fairfax and San Vicente

Alliance Realty Partners, a national developer of multifamily residential complexes, is in the midst of construction for Broadstone Fairfax, a mixed-use building in Mid City Los Angeles.

The five-story building, now rising at the intersection of Fairfax Avenue and San Vincente Boulevard, will consist of 149 residential units and nearly 4,300 square feet of ground-floor retail space.

http://urbanize.la/post/mixed-use-de...nd-san-vicente

[dragonsky]

• Video Link

Nintendo-themed lands coming to Universal Studios Hollywood and parks in Florida and Japan

In Los Angeles, the announcement of a new Nintendo area represents the latest big-dollar investment in Universal Studios Hollywood to help compete with its top rival, Disneyland.

Universal Studios Hollywood launched its biggest and most expensive expansion project to date last year when it opened its six-acre Wizarding World of Harry Potter at a cost of about $500 million. That followed the opening in 2012 of Transformers: the Ride 3D, followed in 2014 by the Despicable Me Minion Mayhem ride and Super Silly Fun Land.

The park opened Fast and Furious: Supercharged in 2015 as well as Springfield, a city block of eateries inspired by the fictional town in the TV show “The Simpsons.”

This summer, Universal Studios Hollywood opened a permanent haunted maze based on the AMC series “The Walking Dead.”

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...129-story.html
https://www.nintendo.co.jp/corporate...16/161129.html

Pretty Cool!

[dragonsky]

Creative Offices Coming to El Segundo

The post-Cold War decline of Southern California's aerospace industry left numerous industrial buildings in El Segundo without occupants. Decades later, the spread of Silicon Beach is finally offering a path forward.

Steelwave, a real estate firm based out of Foster City, is rehabilitating a former Raytheon research facility at 2030 E. Maple Avenue into creative office space. The one-story structure, located east of Sepulveda Boulevard, was previously used in the development of the B2 bomber and other defense type planes.

The adaptive reuse of the building, which is now known as Insite, will create nearly 100,000 square feet of commercial office space. The redesign by HLW Architects has reimagined the facility as an indoor-outdoor experience, with lush gardens along the exterior and a walkway cutting through the center of the building.

http://urbanize.la/post/creative-off...ing-el-segundo

integration with some kind of external system