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

Hollywood’s ever-changing landscape is due for another major new addition. Kilroy Realty has begun work to build Academy on Vine, its $450 million mixed-use development, the Los Angeles Times reports.

The development will rise on a full city block bounded by De Longpre, Homewood, Ivar, and Vine, directly south of the ArcLight Hollywood parking garage.

Made up of four mid-rise commercial buildings and one 20-story residential tower, the completed project will offer approximately 335,000 square feet of office space and 13,000 square feet of retail space.

The Times notes that “office developers commonly line up some tenants before breaking ground, but Kilroy is proceeding ‘on spec’ without renters in hand.”

Kilroy did the same with its nearby Columbia Square project, which reused the former Hollywood headquarters of CBS’s radio and television operations as a high-end extended stay hotel, a fancy restaurant, an outpost of the chic coworking space NeueHouse, and office space that’s attracted high-profile tenants like Viacom.

Kilroy has owned the Academy on Vine property since 2014, purchasing it for $46 million from The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. The site was once planned to house the Academy’s museum, which is under construction now at Wilshire and Fairfax.

Academy on Vine is expected to open in early 2020.

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

Trying to halt plans for a new Clippers arena on public land, a group of residents filed a civil lawsuit against the city of Inglewood on Tuesday.

The lawsuit seeks to make the land available for affordable housing, rather than the NBA team. The Clippers want to build a new home court on the city-owned site, which is located directly across the street from an under-construction NFL stadium and a massive new mixed-use community at Hollywood Park.

“Our city has been moving in the wrong direction,” says Uplift Inglewood member Woodrow Curry III. He says city officials of favoring “billionaire sports owners” over working class residents facing rapidly escalating housing costs.

The mayor’s office did not return messages seeking comment.

Last year, the Inglewood City Council entered into an exclusive negotiating agreement with Murphy’s Bowl, a company owned by the Clippers, setting the stage for development of a new basketball arena on a multi-acre site owned by the city.

Under the terms of the California Surplus Land Act, cities planning to sell or give away public land must first seek out proposals for affordable housing construction on the site.

Attorneys for Uplift Inglewood say Inglewood skipped this step when it moved forward last year with plans for the basketball arena.

Inglewood rents are still lower than those in the greater Los Angeles region, but prices are climbing quickly. The average cost of an apartment in the city is now $1,250 per month, up nearly 6 percent over a year ago, according to CoStar.

The suit also alleges that Inglewood has been ignoring other state laws that mandate construction of new affordable housing. For instance, when the city’s community redevelopment agency shuttered in 2012, local leaders were obligated to replace any affordable units demolished as part of past redevelopment projects.

According to a 2015-16 report, the city still has 112 units to go to fulfill this obligation.

That may not be enough to meet demand from residents. According to the Department of Housing and Community Development, Inglewood—along with most California cities—is falling well short of regional housing goals.

To meet these state-monitored goals, Inglewood will need to add 567 units of housing affordable to residents earning very low to moderate incomes by 2021. Since 2013, none of these units have been built in the city at all.

Representatives of Uplift Inglewood say a lack of affordable housing construction amounts to discrimination against lower earning residents.

“This lawsuit is about more than a wonky housing violation,” said Public Counsel attorney Antonio Hicks at the press conference. “It’s about residents being forced out of their homes by skyrocketing housing costs.”

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

We’re getting a clearer picture of project that could dramatically alter the southeast corner of Third and Fairfax, thanks to details and visuals from the Mid-City West Neighborhood Council’s planning and land use committee.

As proposed, the MVE and Partners-designed project would include 380 residential units and a 26-story tower, and it would rehabilitate some of the retail on the site now while adding more. The project would replace the low-rise Town and Country shopping center that houses a Kmart, a Whole Foods, and a CVS, among others.

Some tenants, like the Whole Foods and CVS, are incorporated into the new project; the Kmart site will give way to the tower.

The plans come from property owner Arba Group and its partners shopping center firm Regency Centers and developer Holland Partner Group.

Arba Group—made up of Ira Smedra and Jacob Wintner—have owned the property for 30 years, but were unable to develop it because of Kmart’s lease for its space, reports the Larchmont Buzz. That lease ended last year, and the store has been occupying renting on a month-to-month basis.

The number of planned units is far fewer than the maximum 800 developers could put on the site, the Buzz reports. But residents who attended a presentation to the neighborhood council on Wednesday were still “stunned by the scale of the project,” and the majority of those who spoke at the meeting were against the project, according to the Buzz.

Neighborhood councilmembers seem optimistic that this preliminary version of the project could, with input from the community, evolve into something that residents could welcome.

“In my time on the council we have tried to work with the community and developers to help see that projects integrate well into the existing neighborhood,” planning and land use committee co-chair Mehmet Berker tells Curbed. “We would hope that any large project in our area would work with us in a similar manner.”

It’s not totally surprising that locals are not enthusiastic about this project. In 2012, the Ross Dress for Less site just east of the Town and Country mall traded hands after the owner, Alan Casden of Casden Properties, tried unsuccessfully for years to get approvals to build a 300-unit mixed-use development on the property.

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

A plan from the county of Los Angeles to replace and rehab a handful of government offices near Vermont and Sixth streets in Koreatown is moving full steam ahead, with work on one of the new towers expected to begin as soon as this summer.

The Board of Supervisors’ on Tuesday certified the project’s final environmental impact report and approved a wave of funding.

The planned development—hailed as a “victory” for Koreatown—will include a new 21-story office tower and the renovation of an existing 12-story building for use as housing, both developed by Trammell Crow. The complex will also include a new low-rise affordable housing complex with a community center from Meta Housing.

When complete, the new Gensler-designed office building will serve as the new headquarters for the county’s department of mental health and for the county’s workforce development, aging, and community services.

Greg Ames, managing director of the Trammell Crow Company, tells Curbed that work is expected to start this August on the new office tower, with estimated completion in late 2021.

A 12-story building already on the site will be upgraded by and reused as 172 apartments with ground-floor retail and a rooftop amenity deck, designed by Steinberg Architects. This building is now occupied by county workers, who will be moving into the office building once it is complete. Renovations here will begin after the office building is finished in late 2021, and are expected to wrap up in early 2023.

Meta Housing’s six-story affordable housing complex will hold 72 units designated for seniors. This structure, designed by Y&M Architects, will also include a 13,000-square-foot community center.

Trammell Crow was “drawn to the opportunity to have a partnership with the county of Los Angeles for a multi-faced, multi-faceted development,” says Ames. The company is looking forward to “participat[ing] in the revitalization of the Vermont Corridor and really help advance transit-oriented development in Koreatown.”

The board of supervisors approved the Vermont Corridor project in 2016.

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

It’s been a tough spring for Los Angeles homebuyers. With fewer than usual houses on the market to choose from, prices bested an all-time record in April, according to a new report from real estate tracker CoreLogic.

That makes three months in a row in which the region’s price record has been broken, and homes are now selling for well above prices seen in the buildup to the 2007 mortgage crisis. In April, the median price was $590,000—close to a 1 percent gain over a month ago and 7.3 percent higher than the same time last year.

Price bumps seen across Southern California are likely driven by a lack of supply in the housing market, according to CoreLogic analyst Andrew LePage. That’s reflected in the fact that far fewer homes than normal are selling in the area. In LA County, for instance, home sales in April were down more than 8 percent since a year earlier.

LePage says this is an especially tough time for homebuyers because rising prices have been accompanied by a sharp uptick in interest rates on home loans.

“The roughly 7 percent gain in Southern California’s median sale price over the past year understates the hit that homebuyers have taken,” says LePage, pointing out that monthly payments for buyers are up almost 13 percent over the same time period.

Within LA County, prices vary dramatically from city to city, and even neighborhood to neighborhood. Selma Hepp, chief economist for Pacific Union, says more affordable parts of the county bring down the median price significantly. For example, the median price in South LA is $375,000, while in Beverly Hills, it’s more than $2.5 million.

Hepp found that the median price for homes in the broad region encompassing the Los Angeles Basin, the San Gabriel Valley, and the southern San Fernando Valley is quickly approaching the $1 million mark. In this area, prices have grown an astonishing 14 percent in the last year, and the median now sits at $939,500.

By Matt Tinoco for Curbed Los Angeles | Read the original article here

Elon Musk posted a short video to Instagram on Thursday night showing off an “almost” completed tunnel constructed by his Boring Company.

In the caption, Musk makes a bold prediction. He claims the tunnel for transit, which he has described as an antidote for LA’s gridlocked streets, will be open to the public soon.

“Pending final regulatory approvals, we will be offering free rides to the public in a few months,” he writes.

Musk has plans for a large “urban loop” system with thousands of stations underneath Los Angeles. He says the tunnels will ferry pods carrying cars, bikes, and pedestrians, at speeds up to 124 mph.

Perhaps because his tunnel plans have been criticized in the past for giving priority to private cars, Musk said on Instagram that “the system will always give priority to pods for pedestrians & cyclists for less than the cost of a bus ticket.”

Musk’s latest Instagram post also says the tunnel is “under LA,” but he hasn’t said precisely where it’s located.

It’s most likely somewhere near SpaceX’s headquarters, in Hawthorne, where Musk received permission last year to drill a 2-mile test-tunnel beneath Crenshaw Boulevard and 120th street.

The tunnel in the video probably is not the “proof-of-concept” tunnel Musk proposed earlier this year for beneath Sepulveda Boulevard, from Washington Boulevard, in Culver City, to Pico Boulevard in the city of Los Angeles.

In April, the Los Angeles City Council’s public works committee unanimously endorsed a motion that proposed exempting that tunnel from rigorous environmental analysis required by state law. That motion has not yet been approved by the full City Council.

When the City Council committee signed off on the motion, it did so with the understanding that the tunnel would not be used to transport passengers.

“The only way we can approve the CEQA exemption is if we accept the premise that... that it is a proof of concept, basically excavation tunnel, and it is not, to be very clear about this, a public transit system,” councilmember Bob Blumenfield said at the time.

Metro CEO Phil Washington has also emphasized that a CEQA exemption would require approval from his agency.

In late April, Washington reportedly met with Boring Company employees to discuss the project. In a Tweet, Metro said the Boring Company “will coordinate with us as they move ahead.”

Precisely how Metro and Boring Company staff are going to work together remains to be seen.

Few details have been made available about what happened during that meeting. Metro is planning its own transportation project for the Sepulveda corridor, which will one day link the Valley, the Westside, and LAX.

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

The proposed redevelopment of Panorama City’s long-dormant Montgomery Ward is charging forward with the backing of the Los Angeles city planning commission.

On Thursday, commissioners heaped favorable reviews on the project, dubbed ICON at Panorama, voting unanimously to endorse plans for 623 apartments, 60,000 square feet of shops and restaurants, and a landscaped plaza at the old Montgomery Ward site.

“I’m really pleased to see some dollars going back into the neighborhood,” said commissioner Renee Dake Wilson.

It’s a prime spot just west of the Panorama Mall and Roscoe and Van Nuys boulevards, a busy intersection that will be a future stop on Metro’s East San Fernando Valley Transit Corridor.

“I like the mixed housing, the setbacks, its really giving it this nice pedestrian feel. Overall, I’m just happy to see the project,” said commissioner Veronica Padilla Campos. She said it has made her sad to see this site—and others in Panorama City—sit vacant for years.

One of the developer’s principals described it on Thursday as “blighted,” “under-utilized,” and “unsafe.” Residents who spoke at the commission meeting didn’t disagree.

Danilo Guerra, who says he’s lived in Panorama City for 10 years, called it a “very dangerous place, because it’s empty” with “no lights.”

“We desperately need the old Montgomery site renovated,” said Gregory Wilkinson, who chairs the Panorama City Neighborhood Council. “We’re not talking about a giant Walmart or Best Buy; they’ve set aside small retail space in the plan to allow mom and pops to flourish. They’ve made it [an] attractive ... open air facility.”

Architect Jay Blatter said his goal is to make the project a “real hub for the entire community.”

The developer is Beverly Hills-based Icon Company. In a 2016 interview with the Los Angeles Times, one of the firm’s principals, Billy Ruvelson, estimated the project would cost $150 million. At that time, plans called for about 270 fewer apartments and nearly more than four times the amount of commercial space.

The project stills need to be approved by the Los Angeles City Council before it can be built. In the meantime, scroll down for a new suite of renderings.

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

AvalonBay Communities is taking a big step forward on its plans to build a 475-unit mixed-use development with a grocery store and commercial and space.

Today, the city planning department published the Arts District project’s final environmental report, a significant hurdle on the path to getting the project built.

Located at 668 South Alameda and designed by R&A Architecture, the development would rise up to seven stories and hold 475 live/work units, including 24 for very low income tenants. The project would include art production and gallery space and restaurants.

Previously described as “a creative base camp” for a “wide spectrum of creators and artists,” the development would take the form of a collection of buildings spread across a nearly 4-acre site near Industrial and Alameda streets.

The property is occupied by four cold-storage buildings, which would be razed to make room for the new project.

AvalonBay expects its plans will be approved by the city by the end of the year, with construction starting by the end of 2019. Early reports on the project anticipated construction to take about four years.

668 Alameda would be a few blocks from another major Arts District project, 6AM, which proposed a huge multi-use development with two 58-story towers for Sixth and Alameda streets.

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

The much-awaited soccer stadium in Exposition Park opens today near USC.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the first time the stadium gates have opened to the public. Today is also the first time that the stadium’s home team—the Major League Soccer franchise the Los Angeles Football Club—trained in the space. The team will play its first game in the stadium later this month.

In addition to a soccer field, the $350 million venue holds shops, a dazzling array of food options, and conference space.

The 22,000-seat, Gensler-designed stadium has been under construction since 2016. The site was previously occupied by the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena.

The stadium isn’t the only major project in Exposition park right now. The planned George Lucas Museum of Narrative Art broke ground in March. That $1 billion museum will bring a spacey new building and 12 acres of open space to a spot now occupied by parking lots.

Exposition Park’s flurry of construction fits in with a recently revealed master plan for the area that would prepare it to be a centerpiece of the city’s 2028 Olympics festivities.