Archinect - News

LA City Council places Dodger Stadium Gondola project on hold pending further reviews

2024-03-25T11:48:00-04:00

The contested plan to build an aerial gondola tram line from downtown LA to Dodger Stadium has been placed on hold after city council members voted last week to halt the Los Angeles Aerial Rapid Transit (LA ART) for the time being.

Local outlet ABC 7 was first to report on the council’s decision to pause the approvals process “until further studies can be conducted on its potential impacts.”

Opponents of the project had lobbied against its invasiveness and potential for displacement in communities that have been historically marginalized through gentrification. Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, who introduced the measure, said: “We owe the public a real analysis of the issues and evidence-based solutions around Dodger Stadium.” The Los Angeles Department of Transportation will now hire a special consultant to conduct the assessments.

(An unrelated assembly bill, meanwhile, is being advanced that would compensate displaced families who fell victim to the construction of Dodger Stadiu...

Dodger Stadium gondola plan gains LA Metro Board approval

2024-02-24T08:00:00-05:00

The LA Metro Board of Directors has given their final go-ahead for a controversial gondola project in Los Angeles that would offer an alternative transportation route from downtown Union Station to Dodger Stadium to baseball fans by the start of the 2028 Summer Olympics. The board voted unanimously in favor of the final version of the plan’s Environmental Impact Report on Thursday.

As was pointed out by LAist, the proposal still needs approvals from Los Angeles City Council, Caltrans, and California State Parks to begin construction. The Metro’s decision came with a steep set of 31 conditions, which include a fund for affordable housing plus marketing opportunities and other concessions directed to small business owners in Elysian Park and Chinatown.

The proposal is marketed as being able to transport a total of 5,000 people per hour on a 7-minute ride with three stations along a 1.2-mile path. The Dodgers say this will reduce traffic by 3,000 cars for each of their 81 home games pe...

Dodger Stadium gondola project clears major legal hurdle as challenges remain

2023-01-18T15:40:00-05:00

On Monday, Jan. 9, [Frank] McCourt scored a court victory when Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mitchell L. Beckloff sided with proponents. Beckloff rejected a challenge to the unusual relationship between McCourt’s private company and the county’s public mega transit agency, LA Metro, which was struck without competitive bidding.

The former Dodgers owner was behind the leadership team that had been selling the project under the guise of environmental concerns (the scheme does reduce traffic by about 3,000 cars for each of the stadium's 81 home games) after cutting an alleged sweetheart deal with Metro Chief Phil Washington. The court ruling cited the Metro’s Office of Extraordinary Innovation policy on unsolicited proposals as a legally-justified means of circumventing the competitive bids process, which in this matter at least had tremendous civic and democratic consequences that touch on gentrification and other hot-button issues.

The plan is under further scrutiny for its role in McCourt’s apparent desire to create an LA Live-type development where the stadium's parking lots, which he still owns almost half of, currently exist. Meanwhile, a new study from the UCLA Mobility Lab has called into serious question the 5,000 projected hourly ridership figure that Los Angeles Aerial Rapid Transit Technologies (...

LA ART releases draft environmental report for proposed Dodger Stadium gondola

2022-10-20T12:45:00-04:00

According to the environmental study, maximum capacity on the gondola system would be 5,000 passengers per hour, with an estimated end-to-end trip of seven minutes. Admission to the system is intended to be free with a ticket to a Dodger game, and rides would otherwise be set at the same price as a Metro fare.

The 1.2-mile-long system will be supported by three 195-foot towers and include stops at the stadium, Chinatown, and its origin point in Union Station. The three proposed stations will vary between 74 and 98 feet in height and between 174 and 200 feet in length. Johnson Fain is reportedly one of the local companies that will be affected by the demolition project required to enable the system’s junction structure at 1201 N. Broadway. Construction is expected to begin as soon as 2024, with a 2026 debut likely to coincide with that year's opening day.

Many residents are still active in their vocal opposition to the $125 million project. The full Environmental Impact Report can be accessed here.

LA's divisive Dodger Stadium Gondola proposal gets new management and an updated look

2022-08-11T14:10:00-04:00

The group behind LA's proposed gondola project that would run from Union Station downtown and terminate at Dodger Stadium has revealed new images and a strategic partnership for a project many in the area fear could be used as a tool for gentrification.

Earlier in the week, the Los Angeles Aerial Rapid Transit (or LA ART) made an announcement that the scheme would be handed over to the local non-profit Climate Resolve and their newly-formed subsidiary called Zero Emissions Transit, which claims to deliver “emissions-free public transit solutions in the Los Angeles region.”

Proposed Union Station/El Pueblo station. Image courtesy LA ART

The group’s announcement included a new batch of updated renderings of the cable cars, station entrances, and elevated platform structures. Their update comes in the face of continued local opposition and the installation of a mockup cabin in the stadium’s parking lot G last week.

Mockup cabin of the proposed gondola. Image courtesy Climate Resolve.

“Be...

SPF:architects' anticipated LA River pedestrian bridge opens to the public with a unifying gesture

2022-04-27T09:00:00-04:00

A major milestone in the ongoing LA River revitalization has been reached after SPF:architects announced the completion of its new Taylor Yard Pedestrian Bridge earlier this month.

Connecting an area north of Dodger Stadium known as Elysian Valley to the neighboring Cypress Park district, the bridge sits on a 42-acre former railway site and has been given the nickname ‘Rumblefish’ by its creators. The bridge takes its namesake and vibrant orange color from a lesser-known Francis Ford Coppola film that SPF:a felt reflected the same ideas of cohesion and brotherly unity expressed in its architecture and will thus serve as the most important piece of infrastructure in the larger Taylor Yard G2 River Park Project currently being undertaken by LA’s Bureau of Engineering.

Photo: Mike Kelley

Construction on the bridge began in 2019 and eventually yielded a 400-foot box-trussed span, in touch with the area’s industrial character and opposing elevations, with two cantilevered central viewing ...

Opponents of Dodger Stadium's gondola project see it as a tool of gentrification, allege inside pitch

2022-03-25T08:30:00-04:00

“It’s just another way that we can’t own our neighborhood and feel safe and quiet here because literally you have something flying over your house all day long, forever, I guess.” said Tany Ling, a singer who offers private lessons at the home she and her sister bought in 2012. McCourt entities are buying up properties in the neighborhood, but the Lings don’t want to move. They started StoptheGondola.org to fight the project.

Frank McCourt, who owned the Los Angeles Dodgers from 2004 to 2011, began proposing the $125 million project back in 2018. The initiative has come up against stiff resistance, especially from those associated with the Los Angeles National Historic Park, which abuts Chinatown.

Previously on Archinect: Plans announced for a gondola to connect LA's Dodger Stadium with Union Station

Their side got help recently from a nonprofit called The California Endowment after it filed a writ of mandate in county superior court this week alleging that the Metropolitan Transit Authority chief Phil Washington had cut a sweetheart deal with McCourt’s LA ART company while acting as a lone intermediary. McCourt has maintained from the get-go that its plan is meant to reduce the legendary traffic caused by Dodger home games, but opponents say the overall effect will only wind up crippling the neighborhood while “[reaping] profit through the occupation on public land.”

Previously on Archinect: LA's propos...

LA's proposed Dodger Stadium-Union Station gondola route revealed

2021-05-24T15:20:00-04:00

The company proposing to build a gondola from Union Station to Dodger Stadium announced Thursday that it has settled on a route that would take the aerial tramway generally above Alameda Street through Chinatown and include a station at the foot of Los Angeles State Historic Park.

Three years after first appearing in the Archinect news, Los Angeles Aerial Rapid Transit has revealed a more detailed outline for its proposed gondola system that could shuttle thousands of baseball fans from Los Angeles Union Station to Dodger Stadium on game days.

Image: Los Angeles Aerial Rapid Transit.

Studio-MLA showcases the future of LA's sports stadiums

2020-10-16T18:21:00-04:00

Mia Lehrer of Studio-MLA and associate principal Matthew Lysne showcase their latest stadium projects in Los Angeles. Taking the design lead to each site's landscape and urban layout, Studio-MLA teamed with HKS, Gensler, and Levin & Associates, among others, to showcase their landscape designs for Dodger Stadium, SoFi Stadium, and Banc of California Stadium.

Studio-MLA provided Archinect with images of all three larger-scale projects and descriptions. Mia Lehrer shares, "Our new stadium-parks offer a model for economic recovery and for improving the urban experience, including as cities recover from the pandemic and reinforce efforts to address social inequities."

Dodger Stadium

Project Description

"The renovated landscape for the 260-acre site furthers the client’s goal to strengthen their fans’ experience and memory of the stadium. Children’s play areas and g...