Arts District WELCOME HOME

After successfully navigating an unanticipated level of neighborhood resistance, work is finally getting underway on another large mixed-use development in Downtown Los Angeles’ burgeoning Arts District. Yesterday, while walking the neighborhood with Downtown icon Brigham Yen, a small crew was spotted prepping the dirt lot at 950 East Third Street for construction. The six-acre site, which is being developed in tandem by Associated Estates Realty and Legendary Development, will eventually birth a series of five-and-six-story buildings containing 472 apartments and 21,000 square feet of retail space.

While its squat profile makes no impact on the skyline, One Santa Fe is pegged to bring 439 residential units to the Arts District by Fall 2014. The Michael Maltzan designed project encompasses 510,000 square feet stretched over a thin, quarter mile mile long footprint. Due to its adjacency to Metro’s subway maintenance yard, One Santa Fe may become the entry point to a proposed Arts District station served by the Red and Purple Lines.

As reported by the LA Times this morning, the long stalled “Mega Toys,” development is finally getting underway in the Arts District. The $100 million project from Lowe Enterprises includes 320 residential units over ground floor retail, set to come online in 2015. The re-development of the Mega Toys warehouse joins two other upcoming mixed-use developments on the Arts District’s northern edge: the 439-unit One Santa Fe and Legendary Development’s 472-unit project adjacent to SCI-ARC.

Anyone approaching Downtown Los Angeles from the east may have noticed that a new object joined the skyline earlier this week: a bright, orange construction crane. Rising high above the low-slung Arts District, this tower crane will assist in the construction of Lowe Enterprises’ Mega Toys killing mixed-use development. Scheduled to open in 2015, the Togawa Smith Martin designed complex will consist of 320 apartment units and 15,000 square feet of ground floor commercial space.

Thanks to CityGrows, take a first look at 950 Third, the mixed-use development slated for the vacant lot adjacent to SCI-Arc. The low-rise project - originally slated to break ground this summer - is being developed by a team consisting of Ohio-based Associated Estates Realty and Glendale-based Legendary Development. Renderings from Kava Massih Architects portray multiple brick-clad structures, standing between five and six stories in height. Residential buildings would contain a total of 472 apartments, centered around a 922-vehicle parking garage.

The first move-ins aren’t expected at the Art’s District’s One Santa Fe complex until Fall 2014, but construction crews are now busy attaching alabaster hued cladding on the $160 million project’s eastern facade. The quarter-mile long structure will feature 438 apartments, 80,000 square feet of ground floor retail, and perhaps a direct link to a future Arts District extension of Metro’s Red and Purple Lines. While the residential population of the Arts District is not yet large enough to sustain a heavy rail station, a couple of nearby projects currently in the works will help change that.

A dinosaur has come back to life in the red-hot Arts District. Five years ago, the AMP Lofts endeavored to create 182 condo units with ground floor retail near the intersection of Santa Fe Avenue and 7th Street. Like many real estate developments that emerged during the Great Recession, the Koning Eizenberg designed project sat dormant while awaiting sunnier economic conditions. Rainy skies may gloom above Los Angeles today, but it looks like the numbers finally pan out for the long awaited residential development.

In an excellent summary of the Arts District’s ongoing identity issues, the Architect’s Newspaper has quietly revealed plans for the neighborhood’s newest mixed-use complex. The proposed development, a 122-unit residential building, would rise seven stories from a current parking lot at 1800 E. 7th Street. The building’s exterior would be clad in lightweight concrete panels, accentuated by a “sculptural glass corner.“ An artist’s rendering of the project, which is being designed by local architecture firm HansonLA, portrays the building with ground-level commercial space at the corner of 7th and Decatur Streets.

The rapid evolution of the Arts District continues to pick up steam, with yet another adaptive reuse project on the way. Earlier this year, a subsidiary of the New York-based Atlas Capital Group purchased Coca-Cola’s former West Coast headquarters, with the intention of converting it into a mixed-use development. Now, an initial study published by the Department of City Planning has shed light on what’s to come. Per the new environmental document, the three-story edifice at 963 E.

An initial study published earlier this week by the Los Angeles Department of City Planning has revealed new details about the AMP Lofts, a proposed mixed-used complex in the eastern Arts District. The project, which is being developed by Bolour Associates, would rise from a 2.38-acre site bounded by Seventh Street, Santa Fe Avenue and Imperial Street. Designs from local architect Joey Shimoda call for a seven-story building, featuring 320 joint live-work apartments and 20,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial uses.