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Silverstein Properties closed on its $430 million deal to buy US Bank Tower, an iconic Downtown Los Angeles property whose purchase price was far below initial expectations. [...]
In a statement, chairman Larry Silverstein said: “I believe in the future of Downtown Los Angeles.”
— The Real Deal
The 73-story US Bank Tower, designed by Henry N. Cobb of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, was once the tallest building west of the Mississippi River until the recently completed Wilshire Grand Center in Los Angeles and later the Salesforce Tower in San Francisco took over that title. The 36-foot-long... View full entry
Gehry Partners has unveiled a set of renderings for the firm's $310 million Colburn School concert halls, a pair of performance spaces that aim to add a public arts component to Gehry's forthcoming $1 billion mega-development, The Grand. The renderings, published by The Los Angeles... View full entry
Work on the Grand, a long-anticipated mixed-use complex designed by architect Frank Gehry has reached the halfway mark as construction carries on unobtrusively through the pandemic.
The towering collection of apartments, stores, restaurants, movie theaters and a luxury hotel is rising on a full city block across Grand Avenue from Gehry’s famed Walt Disney Concert Hall at a time when few are around to witness its creation.
— The Los Angeles Times
Roger Vincent of The Los Angeles Times checks in on the construction progress for The Grand, a forthcoming $1 billion mixed-use development taking shape in Downtown Los Angeles across from the Walt Disney Concert Hall. The project, designed by Gehry Partners, has been in the works for... View full entry
“I would be disgusted if we had to drive through downtown Los Angeles for generations and see buildings marking the city skyline that were achieved through bribery and corruption,” said Councilman Paul Krekorian, who has also proposed barring developers implicated in criminal conduct from getting any future approvals. — The Los Angeles Times
Emily Alpert Reyes of The Los Angeles Times takes a look at the handful of projects that have been tied to an ongoing federal corruption investigation targeting Los Angeles City Council member Jose Huizar and investigates how planning approvals for some those projects may be impacted by their... View full entry
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
