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Officials in Downtown Los Angeles are moving to cancel building permits for a $700 million mixed-use development embroiled in a sprawling federal corruption investigation working its way through the city government's highest levels. In June, Los Angeles City Planning Director Vince Bertoni... View full entry
At a news conference Tuesday, U.S. Attorney Nick Hanna cited [a forthcoming project in the Los Angeles Arts District] as an example of “the harm that comes with bribery.”
“Thanks to Mr. Huizar, the development would have minimal affordable housing units, despite the fact that this area is desperate for low-income housing,” Hanna said.
— The Los Angeles Times
Writing in The Los Angeles Times, Emily Alpert Reyes and David Zahniser dig into the fallout of a still unfolding corruption probe taking shape in Los Angeles that implicates sitting City Councilmember Jose Huizar, who was arrested earlier this week by federal authorities. The probe has... View full entry
Michael Maltzan Architects has announced it is leading the design team for a new headquarters facility for the Goethe-Institut Los Angeles. The forthcoming headquarters is slated for a site in the city's rapidly gentrifying Westlake neighborhood just outside Downtown Los Angeles, where many... View full entry
A 43-story tower designed by Australian firm Koichi Takada Architects proposed for a site in Downtown Los Angeles has gotten a new look and an updated set of uses. Initiated by Australian developers Crown Group, the glass-wrapped tower features a domed top with a crown decorated in... View full entry
One Los Angeles city councilman, now out of office, admitted last week that he accepted envelopes of cash from a businessman in casino bathrooms. [...]
Yet another council member allegedly sought a $500,000 cash bribe from a real estate developer, according to a plea deal struck between federal investigators and a political fundraiser who admitted collecting much of the money in a paper bag.
— Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times reporters David Zahniser and Emily Alpert Reyes shed light on the growing number of municipal corruption scandals in Los Angeles. A probe by the Federal Bureau of Investigations has revealed the degree to which real estate development plays a role in feeding “pay-to-play”... View full entry
The Los Angeles City Council has voted to support a Historic Cultural Monument (HCM) application for the Union Bank Square complex in Downtown Los Angeles. The designation makes the 40-story office tower, designed by New York City architects Harrison & Abramovitz in conjunction with... View full entry
Just look at the American Hotel (sold in 2001 and then again in 2013). It is still "preserved," but entirely gentrified. What happens when the suitcase full of money and sleek renderings by a famous architect show up, when demolition is someone's foregone conclusion? This is Los Angeles after all.
Starting with a scene of a fictional computer game called Demolition, Anthony Carfello's investigative article for "Georgia" goes behind the scenes of much touted and celebrated developments taking a place in downtown LA's artsy parts. It is like a guide book to gentrification, demolishment and... View full entry
With a new Executive Directive issued by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, the City of Los Angeles has become the latest California municipality to make a plan to decarbonize its municipal building stock. Under the recently unveiled Executive Directive No. 25, L.A.'s Green New Deal: Leading... View full entry
the L.A. City Planning Department (DCP) released its full draft Downtown Community Plan, called DTLA 2040. Once approved, the plan would eliminate parking requirements for all of downtown Los Angeles.
DCP has been working on the new DTLA 2040 plan since 2014. It is the first city community plan update that incorporates the city’s new modular planning code, developed under re:code LA
— Streetsblog
Under the proposed plan, up to 60-percent of Downtown Los Angeles would be eligible for residential uses, up from just 33-percent today. The planning document states: “By the year 2040, Downtown will include 125,000 new residents, in addition to 55,000 new jobs — representing 20% of the... View full entry
Plans for a skinny skyscraper with a clever diamond-paned exoskeleton has won rave reviews from city planning commissioners, who predict it might be beautiful enough to earn a spot as one of LA’s most iconic buildings. [...]
If it’s ever built, that is.
— Curbed LA
The proposal for Olympic Tower, a showy 57-story skyscraper near the Staples Center in Downtown Los Angeles, has been inching through the planning process for some time now, and as Curbed LA reports, has recently managed to wow the city's planning commission. Designed by Nardi Associates, the... View full entry
Plans for what could become one of Downtown’s most unique-looking skyscrapers received unanimous approval today from the city’s planning commission.
With cantilevered swimming pools jutting out of its upper floors, the tower proposed for across the street from Pershing Square has been said to look like an in-progress game of Jenga. Commissioner Samantha Millman called it an “ambitious and audacious project.”
— Curbed LA
The Arquitectonica-designed 53-story hotel and condo tower with its precariously cantilevering glass-bottom swimming pools (hey, it's LA!) first appeared on Archinect last fall and quickly became the subject of much debate. Additional renderings were released in May this year. Image courtesy of... View full entry
RCH Studios recently completed a $41 million renovation of the public plaza that unifies the Music Center arts complex in Downtown Los Angeles. Flanked on either side by the Welton Becket-designed Mark Taper Forum and Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, the plaza has been revamped with an eye... View full entry
Six months after breaking ground across the street from the Walt Disney Concert Hall, construction has gone vertical for The Grand.
Over the past two months, a pair of tower cranes has been raised above the project site, which spans the full city blocked bounded1st Street, 2nd Street, Olive Street, and Grand Avenue.
— Urbanize Los Angeles
It has been exactly two months since the Gehry-designed The Grand development in Downtown Los Angeles completed a massive 15-hour foundation concrete pour for the project’s 39-story residential tower, and now, two tower cranes are driving the construction upwards, reports Urbanize LA. Related... View full entry
Like most American cities, Los Angeles has too much parking. Way too much parking. In a recent online essay titled No Parking Here, designer and illustrator Josh Vredevoogd takes a researched look into the failed urban planning ethos that underpins Los Angeles County's massive sea of parking... View full entry
Designed by Brooks + Scarpa, the redevelopment would entail the renovation of site’s northern building and demolition of the southern building. That would make room for a new 15-story building with 323 residential units—32 of them reserved for moderate-income families—plus about 64,000 square feet of office space, 64,000 square feet of wholesale space, and roughly 10,000 square feet of event space. — Curbed LA
The city planning commission is now backing the planned redevelopment of the Southern California Flower Market in Downtown Los Angeles. "The materials and colors of the structures are intended to mimic the bright colors of flowers," Curbed reports. View full entry
