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“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.
— The Los Angeles Times
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... View full entry
An L.A. developer has a new approach to the so-called tenancy-in-common, or TIC, model, in which residents share ownership of the property. Instead of converting old, rent-controlled buildings into TIC properties, the developer is replacing single-family homes with new townhomes.
Some real estate experts said the model could help the region’s gaping affordable-housing problem, particularly after a new state law opened more areas to similar development.
— The Los Angeles Times
S.B. 9 allows for up to four units to be built on plots formerly reserved for single-family developments exclusively. Since the bill was enacted, many investors have begun to demolish single-family units in order to construct the newer TIC model of townhouses, which was supposedly pioneered by a... View full entry
A popular corner of Hollywood may soon be getting a lot busier thanks to a proposal for a new Grammy-worthy creative campus located at the crossroads of the entertainment industry’s two most important arteries. Tentatively named the CMNTY Culture Campus, the proposed 500,000-square-foot design... View full entry
The musical fabric of Los Angeles is about to get a significant boost from one of its most famous creative backers after Frank Gehry’s updated plans for the Colburn School were made public for the first time in a live-streamed ceremony at its downtown campus earlier today. Renderings reveal a... View full entry
The Metropolitan Museum of Art has announced the commission of artist Lauren Halsey for the tenth edition of its popular annual Roof Garden Commission series with a new work titled the eastside of south central los angeles hieroglyph prototype architecture (I). The 34-year-old artist’s temporary... View full entry
14 years after voters approved a nearly $10 billion bond to start building the rail system that would whisk riders from Los Angeles to San Francisco at speeds of more than 200 miles per hour, many California residents have long since lost track of what is being built where, and when or if it will ever be completed.
“We’re teetering on the edge,” said Ashley Swearengin, a former mayor of Fresno who now leads the Central Valley Community Foundation. “We could get it right.”
— The New York Times
The budget for the California high-speed rail project has now swelled to more than double its originally proposed cost of $40 billion from fourteen years ago. Construction on a 31-mile segment of the project has already begun near Fresno in the Central Valley. The fight now is over... View full entry
An expansion at Universal Studios Hollywood will bring the spinning coins and floating blocks of the “Super Mario Bros.” video game to the theme park next year, marking the completion of one in just a handful of theme park expansions in the U.S. since the onset of COVID-19. — The Los Angeles Times
Park officials have billed the new expansion as a “visual spectacle of vibrant colors and architectural ingenuity located within a newly expanded area of the theme park, featuring a groundbreaking ride and interactive areas, to be enjoyed by the whole family." Related on Archinect: Super... View full entry
The USC Architectural Guild has announced the winners of the 11th annual Design Charrette. Past challenges have addressed pressing issues such as homelessness, climate change, and the need for the city to rapidly adapt ahead of its bid as host of the 2028 Summer Olympics, among other themes. Each... View full entry
The mega-mansion known as “The One” sold Thursday for $126 million at a bankruptcy auction. That’s a huge discount from its $295-million listing price, even with a 12% auction fee bringing the total to about $141 million.
Concierge Auctions, which handled the sale, said its auction site drew views from 170 countries, including Australia, the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Italy — and generated some 2,800 prospects.
— Los Angeles Times
Developer Nile Niami had said during its construction that he hoped to someday see the 105,000-square-foot megamansion sell at a price point around $500 million. The One eventually went into default and was last seen in October when it was placed under receivership by the county. Previously on... View full entry
A significant change has been made in the redevelopment of West Hollywood's landmark Viper Room as an originally-planned design from Morphosis has been nixed in favor of a more conservative scheme from Miami-based Arquitectonica. The previous design team had originally anticipated breaking ground... View full entry
In a series of votes last week, the City Planning Commission has given the go-ahead to a more than $1 billion project which will simultaneously expand the Los Angeles Convention Center and adjoining J.W. Marriott hotel complex. — Urbanize Los Angeles
The long-awaited expansion led by a public-private partnership between the City of Los Angeles, AEG, and Plenary Group would see the construction of a Gensler-designed, 37-story hotel tower and conference center atop an existing parking garage. Combined with the neighboring J.W. Marriott and Ritz... View full entry
Los Angeles must rezone to accommodate an additional quarter-million new homes by mid-October after state housing regulators rejected the city’s long-term plan for growth.
If city leaders do not fix the housing plan or complete the rezoning by the new deadline, they could lose access to billions of dollars in affordable housing grants, officials with the state Department of Housing and Community Development said in a letter this week.
— LA Times
Los Angeles County had previously planned to add exactly 10% of the new mandate in the form of housing specifically for the homeless by the year 2025. It has also given some additional leeway to homeowners wishing to install ADUs, which can play a crucial role in meeting the state’s pressing... View full entry
An official start to the transformation of one of Los Angeles’ longest-standing tourist attractions is underway as Urbanize LA is reporting that county officials have now begun the Environmental Impact Report portion of the La Brea Tar Pits master plan effective February 1st... View full entry
Encouraging news for preservationists and Paul Revere Williams fans as local news outlets are reporting that the architect's first Los Angeles home, bought under the auspices of segregation, has now officially been named a Historic-Cultural Monument by the city's Cultural Heritage... View full entry
Michael “Flea” Balzary no longer has any need for his funky architectural digs tucked away in the La Crescenta foothills. The Red Hot Chili Pepper bassist has now officially listed the pedigreed property in the unincorporated community near Glendale, asking a hefty $9.8 million for the one-of-a-kind refuge he picked up for $4.3 million almost four years ago. — Dirt.com
Flea purchased the Michael Maltzan-designed complex, which includes an outdoor movie pavilion, redwood cabin, and smaller two-bedroom house Richard Neutra designed for his secretary Dorothy Serulnic, from artists Lari Pittman and Roy Dowell in June of 2018. Engel Studios, Cameron Carothers... View full entry
