LOS ANGELES | Wilshire Grand Development | 1,100 FT | 73 FLOORS | DEMO

[Towersteve]

Originally Posted by Onn

Just looking historically, property booms always end badly. Both the people and the government often take a good thing too far. There's no real way to stop it, other than to warn the bigger you built them the harder they fall. I'm all for tall towers, but obviously it's stupid to build one in a middle of a desert, or 10 of them in one city in 10 years.

I'm not sure property booms end badly. China has been building for 20 years. If they suddenly have a real estate bust now is it really related to the real estate or the larger economy?
Back to the topic: I think this tower is a little bland but I'm hoping it's built. L.A. could really use some density. There's far too many low rises and sprawl.

[Illithid Dude]

Originally Posted by Towersteve

I'm not sure property booms end badly. China has been building for 20 years. If they suddenly have a real estate bust now is it really related to the real estate or the larger economy?
Back to the topic: I think this tower is a little bland but I'm hoping it's built. L.A. could really use some density. There's far too many low rises and sprawl.

And, either way, L.A. isn't having a property boom. You have to realize, L.A. literally grows by millions every decade. You need a lot of construction to accommodate those numbers.

[JDRCRASH]

Originally Posted by Lovetowers

sooooo . . . any updates ?

Patience, my friend, patience.

lol i mean obiviously theyll be posted here lol i know that but just checking . . . i guess just hopin somebody forgot or somethin lol and yea i agree LA does desperately need it and o ok wow starts soon huh ?! hopefully way before the end of the year as its planned . . . last time i checked anyway[/SIZE]

Well demo of the existing hotel is set to happen this year, but actual ground-breaking of the tower ITSELF won't happen till next year. Still, it's better than nothing.

And believe me, if there's an update, i'll know in a matter of hours. lol

[Lovetowers]

Originally Posted by JDRCRASH

Patience, my friend, patience.



Well demo of the existing hotel is set to happen this year, but actual ground-breaking of the tower ITSELF won't happen till next year. Still, it's better than nothing.

And believe me, if there's an update, i'll know in a matter of hours. lol

ok I trust you lol and fyi they should tease me with "construction will begin 2012" lol not demo but construction . . . just sayin lol

[THE BIG APPLE]

The second most populous city in the U.S is L.A. While it's surprising that the skyline isn't competitive to Chicago and NYC, it's understandable. The city is more spread out and less vertical, I believe that a house in L.A is not allowed to be more than a story high.

[LJS]

Originally Posted by THE BIG APPLE

The second most populous city in the U.S is L.A. While it's surprising that the skyline isn't competitive to Chicago and NYC, it's understandable. The city is more spread out and less vertical, I believe that a house in L.A is not allowed to be more than a story high.

well there's a certain probability that LA is the once again the next epicenter.

[Inv3rted]

Originally Posted by Towersteve

I'm not sure property booms end badly. China has been building for 20 years. If they suddenly have a real estate bust now is it really related to the real estate or the larger economy?
Back to the topic: I think this tower is a little bland but I'm hoping it's built. L.A. could really use some density. There's far too many low rises and sprawl.

There is a very strong correlation between construction booms and asset bubbles.

[Roadcruiser1]

Originally Posted by Towersteve

I'm not sure property booms end badly. China has been building for 20 years. If they suddenly have a real estate bust now is it really related to the real estate or the larger economy?
Back to the topic: I think this tower is a little bland but I'm hoping it's built. L.A. could really use some density. There's far too many low rises and sprawl.

The higher it goes the harder it falls.

[yankeesfan1000]

Too bad, but on the bright side the number of hotel rooms was doubled I think, or at least greatly increased so this new single tower could be 1000+.

Wilshire Grand Hotel Going Single Tower, Ditching Offices
Wednesday, March 14, 2012, by Adrian Glick Kudler



"... Major curveball: the Downtown News reports today that Korean Air now plans to build just one tower with 900 hotel rooms and "a diminished office component." (But that means fewer walls to for "architectural lighting"/ads!) They've also switched out their development partner, ditching Thomas Properties Group for Martin Project Management, which is headed up by Chris Martin of the project's architecture firm, AC Martin...

... Martin tells the paper that the new project should only require administrative changes and won't need to go through another lengthy approval process. In fact, he says that demolition should begin this summer and construction should start in spring 2013, as originally planned. Korean Air decided to make the switch because of Downtown's high office vacancy rate and the 'currently hot Downtown hotel market.' "

[uaarkson]

Bummer.

[Zapatan]

^Read closer, they are nearly doubling the number of Hotel rooms and adding a small office portion.

This COULD be bad if they decide to make the building really fat, but it seems like it could still be LA's tallest.

[NYguy]

Oh boy...

Maybe they'll surprise us with a better design.


http://www.ladowntownnews.com/news/m...9bb2963f4.html

Major Changes for Wilshire Grand Project: Two-Tower Effort Now Envisioned As One
Single High-Rise Would Have 900 Hotel Rooms

March 14, 2012
by Ryan Vaillancourt

Korean Air is considering major changes to its $1 billion plan to replace the aged Wilshire Grand Hotel. Instead of building a 45-story tower with 560 hotel rooms and a second-phase, 60-story office complex, the company instead is looking at erecting a single tower with 900 hotel rooms and a diminished office component. The approved plans called for a 560-room hotel with about 100 residential units that would open in 2016. The timing of the 60-story, 1.5 million-square-foot office tower has always been dependent on the office market’s recovery.

The Downtown office vacancy rate was 18.8% in the fourth quarter of 2011, according to a report from Cushman & Wakefield. As a rule of thumb, office experts say that vacancy must sink below 10% to justify new high-rise construction. With the office market still slumping, Korean Air is now looking to downsize the office component in favor of more hotel rooms, a decision aided by the currently hot Downtown hotel market.

“We don’t want to have a construction site that waits for 10 years while you do hotel, then later office,” Martin said. “We have every intention of doing this as a single-phase project.”....Construction on the new tower would still start around spring 2013 and open in 2016...

At least they are committed to getting the project done. Sounds like the tower could be just as tall if not taller than the current proposal.

[Zapatan]

Hopefully we'll see the design this year if the building will start construction next year.

Like I said, this isn't really bad news, and it's not really good news either. If the office tower were eliminated and left only the 560 room hotel, yea, that would be bad news, but they have a new building in mind, and with that much space (900 rooms plus some office) they would be silly not to make it LA's new tallest landmark.

[JayPro]

For LA's sake I'd also like to see this become their signature highrise, both in terms of height and architecture...if only to break the quite frankly inexcusable monotony of bland, flattop skyscrapers. I mean, I realize that they need heliports, but come on. Make a crown or something that gives the illusion of a pyramidal top or something like it.

I also agree with NYGuy that the bloated, abstract shaping needs some serious reworking. That ill-proportioned spire needs changing, too.

Shame about the other tower getting axed. 700+', IIRC.

[Zapatan]

Good news!

Update: While specifications for the single tower are still under study, Martin said it would be closer in height to the approved phase two office building. That structure was most recently imagined as a 60-story tower, but the entitlements would allow for a building of 1,250 feet in height, or 75-80 stories. If Korean Air built the tower as tall as its approvals allow, it would surpass U.S. Bank Tower as the tallest building west of the Mississippi River.

http://www.ladowntownnews.com/news/m...9bb2963f4.html

[jg6544]

Originally Posted by yankeesfan1000

Too bad, but on the bright side the number of hotel rooms was doubled I think, or at least greatly increased so this new single tower could be 1000+.

Wilshire Grand Hotel Going Single Tower, Ditching Offices
Wednesday, March 14, 2012, by Adrian Glick Kudler



"... Major curveball: the Downtown News reports today that Korean Air now plans to build just one tower with 900 hotel rooms and "a diminished office component." (But that means fewer walls to for "architectural lighting"/ads!) They've also switched out their development partner, ditching Thomas Properties Group for Martin Project Management, which is headed up by Chris Martin of the project's architecture firm, AC Martin...

... Martin tells the paper that the new project should only require administrative changes and won't need to go through another lengthy approval process. In fact, he says that demolition should begin this summer and construction should start in spring 2013, as originally planned. Korean Air decided to make the switch because of Downtown's high office vacancy rate and the 'currently hot Downtown hotel market.' "

Looking at vacancy rates in downtown L.A. and at the availability of other office space elsewhere in the area, why does this surprise anyone?

[Zapatan]

It's not really bad news, the excerpt mentioned the new tower could still be LA's tallest.

[colemonkee]

^Exactly. If you read the article, Martin says the revised project will be closer in height to the taller tower. If you split the difference between 750 ft (the shorter tower) and 1,250 ft (the taller tower), we get at least 1,000 ft. All we would need is another 40 or so feet to have a new tallest. Not outside of the realm of possibility.

[Onn]

Another one that was simply too good to be true. Guess you can add this to the cancelled "visionay projects". Very disappointing they aren't going through with both towers, that would have been insane for downtown LA. Then again, I'm not all that surpised here being that it's LA which seems to have a very serious office problem. Cross your fingers for the one 1,000ft+, don't bet on it!

[Dale]

Originally Posted by Onn

Another one that was simply too good to be true. Guess you can add this to the cancelled "visionay projects". Very disappointing they aren't going through with both towers, that would have been insane for downtown LA. Then again, I'm not all that surpised here being that it's LA which seems to have a very serious office problem. Cross your fingers for the one 1,000ft+, don't bet on it!

Why not ? It actually seems like a pretty good bet at this point. Afraid of success ?