Blog

By Bianca Barragan for Curbed Los Angeles | Read the original article here

A 35-story tower at the Shoreline Gateway project is due to break ground in 60 days, earning the title of Long Beach’s tallest building, says Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia. But the high-rise won’t hold that title for long.

Garcia unveiled on Tuesday plans for a new development in the city’s downtown that would include a 40-story tower—tall enough to unseat the Shoreline Gateway as the city’s highest, when complete.

Developed by Maple Multifamily Land, a subsidiary of Trammell Crow Residential, the project would rise on a large parking lot directly north of the World Trade Center in Long Beach, near Broadway and Magnolia.

Renderings show the building as a glassy high-rise shaped a bit like a prism standing on end. Architecture for project, called the West Gateway, is by Long Beach-based Studio One Eleven. The firm did not respond to a request for comment.

Flanking the tower would be a handful of shorter buildings of a variety of uses, Garcia said. The project would 694 residential units to Long Beach’s downtown, which continues to experience a boom in residential building.

The project was only recently proposed and is working its way through the planning process.

By Elijah Chiland for Curbed Los Angeles | Read the original article here

The Los Angeles housing market is not a hospitable one for first-time buyers.

Less than 30 percent of all LA residents can afford a median-priced home, according the California Association of Realtors. It can be even harder for first-time buyers, who don’t have a property they can sell to cover the cost of a down payment.

But plenty of programs exist at the local, state, and federal level to help buyers purchase their first homes—and many of them provide borrowers with help to make those costly down payments.

Home shoppers are probably already aware of resources like the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s FHA loans program, or the VA loans available to U.S. service members and veterans.

But those aren’t the only options. Below is breakdown of five options available specifically to buyers in the LA area.

To take advantage these programs, buyers must also obtain loans from private lenders, so credit limits or other financial restrictions may come into play. But it’s worth investigating these options if homeownership seems just out of reach.

------

California’s first mortgage programs

The California Housing Finance Agency’s first mortgage program is available to most first-time buyers in California who meet the income limits where they live. In Los Angeles County, borrowers must make under $116,280 (for a one or two-person household) to qualify.

Through the CalPlus and MyHome programs, which are generally paired, buyers who receive conventional home loans from qualified private lenders can then obtain smaller loans from the state agency. These are available to cover closing costs and up to 3.5 percent of a home’s price in down payment assistance.

The smaller loans aren’t factored into monthly mortgage payments; instead, buyers repay them in a lump sum when selling or refinancing their home—or after paying off the entire mortgage.

The maximum price for properties purchased using these loans is $705,000, meaning buyers can get up to $24,675 in down payment assistance.

------

Los Angeles County’s first home mortgage program

Administered through the Southern California Home Financing Authority, a partnership between Los Angeles and Orange counties, this program is somewhat similar to those offered by the state’s Housing Finance Agency in that borrowers can get financial assistance that goes toward the cost of a down payment.

It’s available to buyers in nearly every part of both counties, with one major exception: the entire city of Los Angeles. That’s bound to be frustrating for many prospective buyers, but hey, there are plenty of nice areas to explore outside the city limits.

To qualify for the program, participants must earn under $116,280 for a one or two-person household, or under $135,660 for a three-person household. Purchases are also capped at $625,764, except in targeted areas where at least 70 percent of residents are considered low-income earners by statewide standards. In these areas, buyers can pay up to $764,823.

The first-time buyer requirement is also lifted in targeted areas, meaning that homeowners in those regions could take advantage of the program to trade up for a larger or more amenity-rich property.

Program participants work with participating lenders to obtain a home loan, which comes with a grant that can be used for down payment and closing costs. The grant, which buyers do not have to pay back, can be up to 4 percent of the total value of the loan.

------

Los Angeles County homeownership program

This program also provides financial assistance for down payment and closing costs, but the money comes out of a pool of grant funding from the federal government. That means there’s a limit to how many people can participate in the program. The county is accepting just 39 applications between now and March 2019.

Participants, who must earn under $62,000 per year (for a two-person household), can obtain loans up to $75,000 through the program. Interest isn’t charged on those loans and they don’t need to be repaid until after the buyer sells the home or pays off the mortgage.

This program also excludes the city of Los Angeles, along with many of the county’s other large cities. A list of places where participating homebuyers should focus their searches can be found here.

------

City of Los Angeles homebuyer assistance

The city of Los Angeles has two very similar programs for first-time buyers. One is for low-income buyers making under $62,000 per year (for a two-person household). The other is for moderate-income buyers earning under $116,300 (also for a two-person household).

Both programs offer loans up to $60,000 that can be used to cover down payment and closing costs. The low-income loans can only be used on purchases up to $498,750 for single-family homes and $404,700 for condos. There isn't a maximum purchase price for the moderate income program.

The loans don’t have to be paid off until buyers sell the home or pay off the mortgage, at which time the city will also collect a percentage of the home’s appreciated value, which varies depending on the size of the loan (if the loan amounts to 10 percent of the purchase price, you’ll have to pay back 10 percent of the home’s appreciated value).

The bad news is that loans are only being offered right now to low-income buyers, as the moderate income program is out of funds. Fortunately, the City Council approved an additional $2.3 million for the program in August, which is not yet available but is expected to fund an additional 33 loans to middle-income buyers.

------

Inglewood homebuyer assistance

The city of Inglewood has also set aside a limited amount of money to help first-time buyers. In August, the city approved $2 million in funding for a program that will provide borrowers with up to $350,000 in financial assistance.

Not only will loans from the city cover a buyer’s down payment, they’ll also significantly lower monthly mortgage costs, making homes significantly more affordable to participating residents (to qualify for the program, participants must have lived in Inglewood for three of the last five years).

The program’s benefits are enticing, but get in line soon—the city estimates that only five or six buyers will be able to get assistance through the program.

By Bianca Barragan for Curbed Los Angeles | Read the original article here

The mixed-use Runway at Playa Vista was planned to be a kind of downtown for master-planned neighborhood Playa Vista. Now, it’s about to get more walkable.

Runway’s owners, Invesco Real Estate, and management DJM announced today that car space will be taken away from a portion of that unofficial downtown to create a street dedicated solely to people on foot.

They have hired Los Angeles-based firm Design, Bitches to give the development a refresh that will include closing a central street, Millennium Drive, to car traffic.

The plan also includes lots of outdoor seating, new common area amenities, scaling back on advertising panels, adding landscaping, and “aesthetic” upgrades, with the overall goal of transforming Runway “from a ‘vehicle-dominated’ environment to a ‘pedestrian-dominated’ landscape.”

The $9.1-million makeover is expected to be complete in early 2019.

The change is exciting, but it’s probably not the start of a sea change. Playa Vista is not exactly a transit-friendly neighborhood; don’t count residents abandoning their cars anytime soon.

By Jenna Chandler / Bianca Barragan for Curbed Los Angeles | Read the original article here

Will the Brady Bunch House return to the small screen? The famous home has sold to make-over powerhouse HGTV—which plans to “restore it to its 1970s glory.”

David Zaslav, CEO of HGTV’s parent company Discovery, made the announcement to investors on a conference call early Tuesday morning.

“I am excited to share that HGTV is the winning bidder,” he said. “More detail to come over the next few months, but we’ll bring all the resources to bear to tell safe, fun stories about this beloved piece of American TV history.”

Zaslav did not disclose how much the network paid for the property—or how much shiplapthey’ll put in.

Built in 1959, the exterior of the pink ranch-style home in Studio City appeared in every episode of the Brady Bunch except the first. (All interior scenes were shot on a Paramount Studios soundstage.)

The house appeared on the market this month—for the first time since 1973—with an asking price of $1.885 million.

“This iconic residence is reportedly the second most photographed home in the United States after the White House,” the listing reads.

The buyer had remained somewhat of a mystery over the past couple of days after NSYNC’s Lance Bass announced on social media that he put in an offer—only to be outbid by a Hollywood studio.

He said his offer was “way over the asking price.” But, he lamented: “How can I compete with a billion dollar corporate entity?”

By Bianca Barragan for Curbed Los Angeles | Read the original article here

The Ivar Gardens, a 21-story hotel planned to replace the Jack in the Box on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, is still kickin’.

Urbanize LA noticed the hotel project from developer R.D. Olson is set to be discussed by the governing board of the successor entity to the defunct community redevelopment agency. (The project is located in a redevelopment area.)

The Art Deco-inspired tower, designed by architecture firm WATG, would hold 275 rooms, a gym, a rooftop deck, and parking for 135 cars.

In documents provided to the governing board, the hotel is described as an improvement on the “currently underutilized site” that would “upgrade the site and the immediate surrounding area along Sunset Boulevard.”

A number of hotels have recently opened or are in the works for the blocks surrounding the property on Sunset between Cahuenga and Ivar. Across the street, the Amoeba Records is set to be replaced by a 28-story tower with over 200 residential units. Their lease runs out in early 2019.

By Bianca Barragan for Curbed Los Angeles | Read the original article here

A huge plan to redevelop the Redondo Beach waterfront with new shops and restaurants has derailed.

The Redondo Beach City Council has withdrawn its part of the joint application for the project with the California Coastal Commission, the Daily Breeze reports. The move prompted Redondo Beach Mayor Bill Brand to declare the project “dead.”

The city was teaming up with the developer, CenterCal, via a public-private partnership to redevelop the site. CenterCal pulled its portion of the application out this month too.

This is just the latest in a string of huge hurdles for the development, which is unpopular with many residents.

In May, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge ruled that the project’s environmental impact report—a vital planning document—had to be altered and redistributed to the community.

Last year, a ballot measure aimed at halting waterfront development passed with the support of 57 percent of Redondo Beach voters. It’s unclear what impact that vote had on the city’s decision to withdraw its application.

Many city residents supported some kind of revitalization for the pier, but differed on what form that rehabilitation should take.

With the withdrawal of the project’s applications before the coastal commission, it’s unclear what the next steps for the project are and when they will happen. “Things are up in the air for now,” Brand told the Breeze.

By Elijah Chiland for Curbed Los Angeles | Read the original article here

One of entertainment industry’s largest and most recognizable movie studios wants to get into the transportation business.

Warner Brothers announced plans Tuesday for an aerial tram that would ferry visitors to and from the Hollywood Sign. The company would pay for the tram’s construction and would operate it from a parking lot just south of its Burbank backlot.

In a letter sent Monday to Los Angeles parks and legislative officials, the studio offers the tram as a potential solution to issues of access to the landmark.

In 2017, the city closed a popular Beachwood Canyon access point to the Hollyridge Trail, which provides some of the best views of the sign. Soon after, Councilmember David Ryu commissioned a study examining ways to alleviate traffic in neighborhoods around the sign while ensuring it remains accessible to residents and visitors.

The study included several outside-the-box recommendations, including an aerial tram or gondola and even a replica sign that would be easier for hikers to get to.

In December, Variety reported that media mogul Barry Diller, along with his wife, fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg, and her son, Alexander von Furstenberg, were considering their own plans for a tram that would take riders to and from the sign.

Now, the city has a more concrete proposal for such a system.

The Warner Brothers tram would take riders up the back of Mount Lee to an education center about the sign that the company also plans to build. Warner Brothers would charge visitors to ride the ferry and would split the revenue with the city.

The company would also pay for a new transit hub on the north side of Griffith Park from which passengers could access buses, shuttles, and the tram itself.

If city officials should pursue the proposal further, it would still need to go through an extensive environmental review process—and any related legal challenges.

Any privately funded development within Griffith Park is bound to draw plenty of public scrutiny, but Warner Brothers argues its solution is one that makes sense for the city and visitors alike.

In a statement, the company says its tram proposal would have the “least impact on the surrounding environment” and would allow easy access to the park “at no cost to the taxpayer.”

By Elijah Chiland for Curbed Los Angeles | Read the original article here

Music streaming service Spotify will open a new regional headquarters in Los Angeles’s Arts District.

Representatives of the recently opened At Mateo office and retail complex announced Monday that the Swedish tech company had signed on to lease approximately 110,000 square feet of office space at the site.

The arrival of Spotify marks another big step in the Arts District’s transformation from a trendy area popular with artists and gallery owners to a major corporate hub and a live-work destination for highly paid creative types.

Warner Music Group announced plans to relocate to the neighborhood from Burbank in 2016, and both food-replacement startup Soylent and the USC Roski School of Art and Design are moving into At Mateo along with Spotify.

Spotify will occupy well over half of the complex, which was originally planned as an open-air shopping center before owners began focusing on office space midway through development. Rumors have been swirling since the beginning of the year that the tech company was considering a lease at the site.

At Mateo representatives say the complex, which quietly opened earlier this year, is now 85 percent leased.

By Elijah Chiland for Curbed Los Angeles | Read the original article here

The Los Angeles City Council is crafting new rules to regulate dockless bikes and electric scooters, and the policy will likely limit how many vehicles companies can disperse on city streets and sidewalks.

The bikes and scooters, which can be rented through a smartphone app and left on the curb once a ride is finished, have become a common sight on the Westside. More recently, they’ve begun popping up in more central neighborhoods as well, like Hollywood and—briefly—the Arts District.

The dockless vehicles have attracted plenty of riders, but not everyone is happy with the new bikes and scooters. Critics complain that riders hog the pedestrian right-of-way and leave vehicles haphazardly dispersed on sidewalks.

After being flooded with dockless vehicles last year, the city of Santa Monica approved regulations on “shared mobility devices” earlier this month. Los Angeles officials are now considering similar guidelines that would address concerns about the vehicles, while allowing companies to expand into new areas.

At least one councilmember wants to entice dockless providers to set up shop in the auto-centric San Fernando Valley.

“I don’t have any dockless bicycles or scooters or any of that fancy stuff,” said Councilmember Nury Martinez, who represents much of the central Valley, in a city transportation committee meeting last month. “We’re simply trying to cross the street without getting killed.”

On Wednesday, the committee approved preliminary regulations for the vehicles, including a cap that limits the number of vehicles companies can deploy in the city to 3,000. That number could go up if companies agree to serve areas they might otherwise have ignored.

If companies expand operations into “disadvantaged communities,” lower-income areas identified by the California Environmental Protection Agency, they would be able to add an additional 2,500 vehicles to their fleet—to be deployed in those areas. At Martinez’ request, the number of additional vehicles would be double that in the Valley.

That means that companies could put up to 8,000 bikes on city streets, as long as 5,000 of them were in low-income neighborhoods in the Valley.

Such a large incentive may seem like a dramatic step, but transportation department officials told the committee that luring companies away from more affluent areas in the LA Basin could otherwise be a challenge.

The cap on fleet size wouldn’t be the only rule companies have to abide by. The guidelines recommended Wednesday also impose safety standards on vehicles, requiring them to have lights and reflectors, and for electric vehicles to have working motors.

Companies would also have to provide ridership data to the city and will be responsible for ensuring that vehicles are parked in appropriate places where they don’t block the path of pedestrians.

The rules still need to be approved by the full City Council before going into effect. Even then, they won’t be set in stone. Transportation officials would have leeway to adjust limits on fleet size, should companies provide data that proves their vehicles are popular enough that more are needed.

Councilmember Mike Bonin, who leads the transportation committee, stressed the importance of ensuring residents aren’t overwhelmed by the number of new bikes and scooters in their neighborhoods.

“This is an exciting new mobility option for Los Angeles,” said Bonin Wednesday. “If we don’t strike the right balance, it won’t succeed.”