LOS ANGELES | Downtown Project Rundown 4.0 - Page 7

Sodha · #**121** Posted: **Jan 21, 2011, 4:57 PM**

Further proof there is just too much parking in downtown LA..the CRA just gave the Broad Museum an extra 100 parking spaces. Apparently the previous 284 was "too little". Because, as we know, EVERYBODY drives and NOBODY will use Metro. Absolutely ridiculous. Now, this increases traffic. More convenient to drive, less reason to go Metro. Imagine if Chicago and New York had the ridiculous convenience of massive parking garages. I guarantee their transit ridership would be lower and there would be a perception of more traffic. Los Angeles is the world-class example in this.

http://www.ladowntownnews.com/articl...e068736909.txt

Steve2726 · #**122** Posted: **Jan 21, 2011, 6:37 PM**

Chicago doesn't have " the ridiculous convenience of massive parking garages"? That's just not true.

Here's one of many huge garages, this one's 13 levels in the "loop" area with the former Sears tower in the background-

That report is in today's LA Times. Traffic is just as bad elsewhere as it is here.

202_Cyclist · #**123** Posted: **Jan 21, 2011, 7:05 PM**

Quote:

That report is in today's LA Times. Traffic is just as bad elsewhere as it is here.

In other metro areas, and increasingly in Southern California (at least LA perhaps not with Orange County), you have several transportation options, however to highway congestion. You can take commuter rail, subway/metro, ect. This is one of the significant benefits of transit-- people can still drive but they have the option to avoid congestion altogether. Opponents of transit, such as the GO(B)P that wants to defund Amtrak and the federal New Starts program claim that investing in transit is dictating to people how they commute. It is just the opposite, however. It gives people more choices.

BrighamYen · #**124** Posted: **Jan 21, 2011, 7:44 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by RAlossi

DTLA did pretty well last round of development. Of course, we were 3-4 years late, which ended up hampering development and slowing the momentum of the neighborhood.

Last cycle, the population of the neighborhood went from under 10,000 to nearly 43,000 (45,000+ once the recently opened buildings fill up). Most of the "adaptively reusable" buildings in the Core were rehabbed. Large cultural projects were underway or completed, including the Disney Hall and the Colburn addition. LA Live. Improved transit. Top-level restaurants.

Even with the effects of the recession, the number one thing I'm hearing residents say now is... where the **** is the retail?? I feel like we're on the verge of the next phase of the development wave, which is taking the ground-floor retail environment to the next level. This is being led by Target.

I just fear there's not going to be a cohesive plan for where to put it. All I can say is, Broadway, Broadway, Broadway. That's the last big chunk of the puzzle missing before I'd be completely satisfied with the progress of the past ten years. I think once 5th/Broadway becomes a residential square over the next year (Jewelry Trades, Metropolitan, SB loft building and now the Chester Williams Bldg), that will send a big message to the other Broadway building owners. 9th and Broadway is already transforming and looks completely different with the Blackstone; as well as a mishmash of buildings up and down the street, either residential (like the Judson, Broadway/Spring Arcade) or the improvements/renovation to Clifton's.

Anyway, that's just my assessment as a resident.

Yes, I do think that Target and whatever retailers Brookfield is able to attract to the new 7+FIG shopping center will help toward that goal of making DTLA a shopping destination competitive with other regional powerhouses like Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Pasadena, and West Hollywood.

I see fashion forward names wanting to come into the mix in the future such as James Perse, APC, Marc Jacobs, Fred Segal, Kitson, etc.

I was talking to a sales associate at Fred Segal just this past weekend and I asked him what he thought about if Fred Segal had a FLAGSHIP store in DTLA, like where the Jewelry District is, and he thought it was a wonderful idea! We both agreed that the architecture of the historic buildings would give Fred Segal another level of class that elevates it to a higher standing.

Funny enough, I have the direct experience with working at the DCBID back in 2005 where I did the same thing (asking people to move their businesses downtown), and I would get the most confused looks, like, "Why would we open up downtown?" That was really only 5 years ago. Boy how things have changed in SUCH a short time! Imagine what another 5 years will bring when there is incredible rail connections to DTLA from the Westside???

I think it's really only a matter of time before parts of DTLA will start to resemble SoHo NY as it pertains to shopping options. And I guarantee you, the masses will be very happy and LA's image to the world will change dramatically.

SD_Phil · #**125** Posted: **Jan 21, 2011, 8:08 PM**

^That can't come soon enough. I agree that you can already see the seeds of this sprouting.

ThreeHundred · #**126** Posted: **Jan 21, 2011, 8:41 PM**

So it seems as though the renovation of 7th+Fig is pretty much underway considering it's 75% empty and signs are all over the place saying that the mall will undergo reconstruction from the first quarter of 2011 to sometime in 2012.

RAlossi · #**127** Posted: **Jan 21, 2011, 10:30 PM**

Now if only Macy's Plaza could drop some dollars into renovation...

Illithid Dude · #**128** Posted: **Jan 22, 2011, 12:49 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by RAlossi

Now if only Macy's Plaza could drop some dollars into renovation...

I agree. Macy's Plaza might be the ugliest building in the city, and that is saying a lot. It probably will once it starts loosing business to 7th+Fig, similar to how Wilshire Grand announced plans to 'renovate' (if you can call it that- it's a complete re-do!) after it started loosing business to all the other new hotels.

Here is the mentioned block of ugly- Macy's Plaza.

LosAngelesSportsFan · #**129** Posted: **Jan 22, 2011, 12:56 AM**

i emailed the owners a couple months ago, asking them if they were going to renovate and mentioned about 10 reasons why they should but obviously got no response from them.

JDRCRASH · #**130** Posted: **Jan 22, 2011, 2:12 AM**

The mayor was a ridiculous FOOL to wait until after last November to begin pitching 30/10 to Congress. Pretty soon it'll turn into 30/15.....then 30/20.....and so on and so forth. Did you guys read the LATEXTRA portion of the Times today? Based on John Mica's comments, to me it sounds like 30/10's projects will be considered on a single project by single project basis.

How hard is it to ask for to approve 30/10? This world isn't gonna last forever (in my religious beliefs), and if these things don't happen by then.....WORDS WILL NOT DESCRIBE HOW DISAPPOINTED AND INCENSED I'LL BE.....

sopas ej · #**131** Posted: **Jan 22, 2011, 6:18 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve2726

Chicago doesn't have " the ridiculous convenience of massive parking garages"? That's just not true.

Here's one of many huge garages, this one's 13 levels in the "loop" area with the former Sears tower in the background-

Yeah, when I was last in Chicago, I actually parked in one of those massive parking garages.

citywatch · #**132** Posted: **Jan 22, 2011, 6:21 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by LosAngelesBeauty

A strong downtown will have enough GRAVITY to not only attract a lot of people, but also have enough MASS to hold the impression of an entire area. Think of Pasadena: relative to its size, most people ONLY think of Old Pasadena. If you go east of Lake Avenue, Pasadena starts to look like a dump along Colorado Blvd. with ugly car dealerships and motels all the way to Arcadia really.

Same with DTLA. If it was REALLY REALLY nice, people would overlook a lot of LA's other ugly parts and focus mainly on this new downtown.

LAB, parts of colorado get shaky but they're not really divey. But I should hope so since colorado blvd is sort of like pasadena's version of wilshire, & it does host the annual rose parade. I'd say the main letdown of streets like colorado (& this is true of important parts of Hollywood blvd too) is that----despite what NIMBYs favor or dislike----shorter, smaller bldgs don't make a place look big time. Those lowrise bldgs may not cause shade, but they also make ppl go zzzzz.

compare that with broadway, which I was driving down a few months ago (the same day I went to eat at LA live). while most of the bldgs are tall enough to make the street not look burban, too many of those bldgs' groundfloor spaces are....divey. One of my relatives said it reminded him of a sketchy street in Mexico city, while one of my kids wondered if she could find anything worth buying around there.

I was disappointed that my reaction was as

as it was. I was hoping that somehow, someway enough of broadway by now had been cleaned up so that my overall impression would be positive. But today's broadway IMHO still makes LA seem like a town that has lost too much $$ & is easy to write off. that it fits the stereotype ppl in bigtime cities have of LA being not nice enough. OTOH, the eastern part of colorado blvd seems like a fairly ok street in a typical midwestern, or older burban, town.

citywatch · #**133** Posted: **Jan 22, 2011, 6:40 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sodha

Further proof there is just too much parking in downtown LA..the CRA just gave the Broad Museum an extra 100 parking spaces. Apparently the previous 284 was "too little". Because, as we know, EVERYBODY drives and NOBODY will use Metro.

when it comes to too much parking, my main problem is all the surface lots. Just about all of them are fugly & they deaden so much of the hood. But it is ridiculous how so many of us in LA are dependent on our car. so much so that a lot of us will drive around & around & around looking for a parking space that is at least 2 feet closer to the front door of where we're headed.

however, as others above have noted, there are a lot of spaces set aside for cars in a city like chicago. The well known twin circular apt towers that were built there next to the riverfront back in the 1960s (?) have many levels of parking at their base.

DT's biggest problem has not been the way we treat cars here, although that doesn't help. IOW, ppl didn't suddenly become aware of the invention of the car & say "let's get out of here!!" The biggest problem is DT wasn't nice enough in the first place for many of those ppl to want to stick around. That was true before most of our fwys were built.

As for the trend of ppl spreading themselves all over the place, inc out in the burbs? That dates back to when most ppl didn't even own cars & instead relied on things like the red car train.

Kingofthehill · #**134** Posted: **Jan 22, 2011, 6:42 PM**