If you had the opportunity to read one of our previous posts on the The Kor Group‘s redevelopment of the Eastern Columbia Building being one of the trailblazers of the Adaptive Reuse Ordinance in Downtown Los Angeles, then you will enjoy a recent article published on The Architects Newspaper blog.  We all saw are surge of historic office properties being converted into multi-family uses in the early to mid-2000′s, shortly after the ordinance was put into effect in 1999.  Now, Downtown Los Angeles is gradually starting to see a second wave of redevelopment, this time focused on food and retail use.  These makeover are creating a entirely new phase of development that will eventually rejuvenate Downtown.

According to The Architects Newspaper, “since 2008 over 400 new restaurant and retail shops have opened in Downtown LA, with another 50 expected to open this year. With an abundance of largely intact historical buildings, architects and designers have paid homage to the past by restoring or re-creating many of classic features while adding a modern sensibility.”  One of the architects that has found his way into this niche is Kelly Architects, who designed Wood & Vine for us and our client Vine Street Partners a couple years back in Hollywood (on the ground floor of the historic Taft Building – if you have not yet been, please do and try the Chicken & Waffles!).

A main artery of this surge of new restaurants and retail Downtown is the historic Broadway corridor.  The street, which in the past has been one that people have avoided when the sun goes down, is slowly morphing into something special.  Bringing Back Broadway, which is a public-private partnership with the mission to revitalize the street, feels that this new street-level retail will need to be supported by new office use above in order for these businesses to thrive and the district to become stronger.  Our plan to bring a streetcar line to Downtown Los Angeles will help the area even more, especially Broadway, which is the main thoroughfare for the proposed Los Angeles Streetcar line.  The “re”-introduction of the streetcar line will make this part of town more pedestrian-friendly and also presents a unique investment opportunity to Downtown property and business owners to increase their sales, rents, and property values.  Some of you may not be aware, but Los Angeles at one time had one of the most elaborate streetcar systems in the nation.  With permanent tracks in the road, those who are in close proximity to the line can feel assured that it is not going anywhere anytime soon.

Click here for the full story on The Architects Newspaper:

http://www.archpaper.com/news/articles.asp?id=5983

Images courtesy of www.archpaper.com

Back To Top of Page

This (New Wave of Adaptive Reuse in Downtown Los Angeles Geared Toward Restaurants & Retail) was published by JR Riddle at Urban One. Please visit Urban One - Real Estate. Infrastructure. Transit. to learn more.

On Thursday, the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority’s Board of Directors voted to certify environmental documents for two transit projects that have long been in the works, both of which will have huge impacts on infrastructure and development throughout the Los Angeles region. The Board certified Final Environmental Impact Statements/Reports (FEIS/FEIR) for both the Regional Connector in Downtown Los Angeles and the first phase of the Westside Subway Extension, to Wilshire and La Cienega in Mid-City. The Board action moves both of these significant transit projects one step closer to construction, with both anticipating to break ground as early as next year.

Combined with the opening of the Expo Line Phase 1 tomorrow, these transit projects will reshape commuting and development patterns in and around Los Angeles.

Read more about the Metro Board’s actions at The Source, Metro’s transit news blog:

• Regional Connector
• Westside Subway Extension

This (Los Angeles Metro Board Approves Environmental Documents on Two Historic Transit Projects) was published by ben at Urban One. Please visit Urban One - Real Estate. Infrastructure. Transit. to learn more.

So, for those who don’t know, Metro purchased Los Angeles Union Station and 40+ acres surrounding the building last year.  They received qualifications from many world-renown architecture & planning firms.  They shortlisted six teams (EE&K, Gruen Associates/Grimshaw Architects, IBI Group/Foster + Partners, Moore Ruble Yudell and TEN Arquitectors, NBBJ/Ingenhoven Architects, and Renzo Piano Building Workshop/Parsons Transportation Group) to take part in a competition to create a master plan for the Union Station redevelopment.  The first step in the process (although apparently not considered to be a factor in the final selection) was for each of the six teams to create “vision boards” which highlight each of their concepts.  These boards were presented to Metro today.  See the full story here on Curbed LA, along with each of the six boards.  The Metro board is planning on making their final selection on June 28, 2012.  The planning process is expected to take approximately two years.

http://la.curbed.com/archives/2012/04/6_visions_for_a_dream_union_station_neighborhood_of_2050.php

Image courtesy of www.la.curbed.com

This (Union Station Master Plan Vision Boards Presented to Metro Today) was published by admin at Urban One. Please visit Urban One - Real Estate. Infrastructure. Transit. to learn more.

Here is a great post on Curbed LA about the renovation of the Eastern Columbia Building in Downtown Los Angeles.  Urban One’s partners had a hand in this when they worked at The Kor Group, and this was one of Dennis Allen’s biggest accomplishments during his tenure at the firm.  Originally built as a department store back in the late 1920′s, one can see the condition that the building was in when Kor acquired it in 2004 when looking at the photos of the water-damaged terra cotta facade.  The condo conversion revitalized this dilapidated structure, bringing it into the twenty-first century without compromising any of its historic roots.  The success of the Eastern Columbia Building paved the way for the Adaptive Reuse Ordinance in Downtown and the rest of the Los Angeles.  Click here for the full story on Curbed LA:

http://curbed.com/archives/2012/04/23/downtown-los-angeles-landmark-wasnt-always-a-gem.php

This (The Adaptive Reuse of a Downtown Los Angeles Landmark – Eastern Columbia Building) was published by JR Riddle at Urban One. Please visit Urban One - Real Estate. Infrastructure. Transit. to learn more.

Infrastructure. What is it exactly, and why should we care? Let’s start with what it is. Most people have a general understanding of the concept, but aren’t sure exactly what comprises this system of public works. Simply put – Infrastructure is the system of roads, rails, bridges, tunnels, airports, seaports, pipes, reservoirs, power plants, sewers, and related distribution systems that support our society… and that is just a partial list.

An oft used, but appropriate analogy is the inner workings of the human body – the arteries, muscles, bones, and organs that keep us all alive by performing vital functions. Neglect your human infrastructure, and bad news is sure to follow. And that’s why we should care about our national and regional infrastructure, which has long been neglected since we built one of the best systems in the world in the middle of the last century. Continued neglect and procrastination means bad news for our society.

Here in Los Angeles, we are increasingly seeing our aging infrastructure fail, with bursting pipes flooding neighborhoods and fire trucks getting trapped in sink holes. Most Angelinos are very aware of the sad state of our transportation network and local infrastructure, but don’t understand how to fix the problems, or are very reluctant to make the necessary investments.

Lack of infrastructure investment means more than floods and longer airport security lines. The real issue is economic competiveness. Other countries are pulling ahead with new infrastructure that minimizes friction costs and bolsters business efficiency. Infrastructure investment is very hard to quantify and visualize given the enormity of scale and cost. However, we depend on it for every aspect of our daily lives and businesses – from checking our Blackberries to buying groceries. A recent study by Calderon, Moral-Benito, and Serven in 2009 presented a justifiable case that a 10 percent rise in infrastructure assets directly increases GDP per capita by 0.7 to 1 percent. That could mean a total annual GDP increase of as much as $150 billion if America could just make the investment.

Which raises the obvious and most important question: where do we get the money to make that investment? Public officials are starting to understand the necessity. The Obama Administration made a great push for national spending on infrastructure and even advanced the concept of a National Infrastructure Bank to finance the astronomical costs to build infrastructure projects. However, with the economy continuing to struggle and the recent political change in Washington D.C., it’s becoming obvious that a national plan might not materialize. State and local governments are also struggling just to pay current expenditures and avoid bankruptcy, so local public spending is unlikely as well.

What remains then is the private sector, which is how most infrastructure projects were built in previous centuries. Many, if not all, private enterprises and properties benefit substantially from infrastructure investment, so why not make them a more prominent player in the investment and operation of such activities? This seems to make even more sense when one factors in the public sector’s often inefficient pricing, investment, and production policies. Infrastructure investment has become such a crucial need in our country that the Urban Land Institute, an organization known for its development focus and large private sector membership, has made infrastructure one of its Top 3 national initiatives. Clearly we need to figure out a way to engage the private sector more efficiently.

But private sector investment isn’t without its challenges and faults. First, the financial returns are very hard to quantify, therefore preventing the large scale investment necessary. Second, many are skeptical that the private sector will really have the public’s best interest in mind and instead focus on financial returns to the detriment of service, pricing, and ongoing maintenance. Yet there are many private organizations that are already paying for and maintaining such systems. Google, NBC Universal, and Cedars Sinai Medical Center are all examples of private organizations who have built housing, transportation networks, or communication systems to address the needs of their employees and customers because the public sector just couldn’t deliver the efficiency and innovation they desired. So why can’t we take this concept to a broader scale?

Hopefully we can move towards the further engagement of the private sector and continue to build on some of the recent public-private partnerships successes around the country. It will take time and a focused effort by all involved, including the participation of the general public. Here at the local chapter of the Urban Land Institute of Los Angeles, we are developing a plan to engage a broader base of participants in the infrastructure conversation.

We believe this will be a multi-step process starting with two crucial elements. First, we must take a detailed look at the inventory we have and address the extent of the problem. Our goal is to fully understand all that we have and assess the integrity of the system. Once we have a handle on the problem, the next step is to engage and educate local officials, the private sector, and general public to start generating ideas and practical solutions. All parties are necessary because local policy can only be advanced with the buy in of the voters. And voters aren’t going to accept increased rates or taxes if they don’t understand the importance and magnitude of the problem.

Borrowing again from the human anatomy analogy, sometimes attention is only paid to the system when problems arise. Only when our doctors warn us of high blood pressure, or worse, that one of our pipes has burst, do we focus on the problem and change our habits. Hopefully it won’t come to this in our societies. We can’t just keep consuming cheeseburgers and soda forever without implication.

About the Author

Dennis Allen is Managing Partner of Urban One, and the Chair of the Infrastructure Committee for the Urban Land Institute of Los Angeles.

This (Infrastructure – The Lifeblood of Society by Dennis Allen) was published by admin at Urban One. Please visit Urban One - Real Estate. Infrastructure. Transit. to learn more.