Miracle Mile WELCOME HOME

The Mid-Wilshire area has been on quite a roll in 2013. Construction is well underway on several new mixed-use developments and the J.H. Snyder Company has announced plans for a 13-story office tower overlooking Hancock Park. To top that, upwards of $1 billion in upgrades are potentially coming to LACMA by way of a new Motion Picture Museum (designed by Renzo Piano and Zoltan Pali) and the proposed redesign of the main campus by Peter Zumthor.

Last September, Ohio-based Associated Estates Realty Group broke ground on a 175-unit apartment building adjacent to Desmond’s Tower on the Miracle Mile. Now eight months later, construction crews are busy with excavation for the building’s subterranean infrastructure. Designed by Architects Orange, the Desmond on Wilshire will rise seven stories above three floors of underground parking. The building will consist of one and two bedroom units, supplemented by residential amenities such as a pool, spa, fitness center and rooftop deck.

One of the Miracle Mile’s greatest architectural gems is about to get a contemporary next-door neighbor. New York-based Carnegie Hill Properties, owner of the historic Dominguez-Wilshire Building, plans to construct an apartment community adjacent to the pre-war office structure. Located at 727 South Cloverdale Avenue, the new building will rise four stories and contain 42 residential units. Designed by LA-based Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects, the project received rave reviews from members of the Miracle Mile Neighborhood Association.

Plans for a new mid-rise office building are still forging ahead on the Miracle Mile, albeit now in slightly truncated form. This coming Thursday, the Los Angeles City Planning Commission is scheduled to review phase two of Museum Square, a 7.5-acre office and retail complex located at 5757 Wilshire Boulevard. The proposed expansion calls for the construction of a new 13-story tower, which would add 250,000 square feet of Class-A office space on a current parking lot at 620 S.

Take another look at 727 Cloverdale Avenue, a striking low-rise apartment complex planned just south of the Miracle Mile. The purely residential development, designed by Los Angeles-based LOHA Architects, would rise from a half-acre parking lot adjacent to the landmark Dominguez-Wilshire Building. Plans submitted to the city call for a four-story structure, containing 43 dwelling units above a four-level underground garage. The project includes a total of 246 parking spaces, intended for use by both residents and office tenants.

Nearly two years after breaking ground, vertical construction continues for the Desmond on Wilshire, an upcoming multi-family residential complex on the famed Miracle Mile. The project, designed by Architects Orange, replaces a former parking lot behind the iconic Desmond’s Tower at 5500 Wilshire Boulevard. The finished product will consist of a seven-story structure, featuring 175 apartments and three underground parking levels. The low-rise building will offer a mixture of one- and two-bedroom units, accompanied by amenities such as a pool, a fitness center and a rooftop deck.

Excavation is now underway for the Mansfield, the latest residential-retail complex to set up shop on the Miracle Mile The seven-story project, which is rising from a 1.45-acre site at 5100 Wilshire Boulevard, consists of a seven-story structure featuring 138 apartments, approximately 13,000 square feet of ground-level commercial space and a 299-vehicle parking garage. According to the website of the Korda Group - the Mansfield’s Los Angeles-based developer - the building will also include two-floor lofts, private balconies, a swimming pool and a fitness center.

A student team from UCLA Extension’s Landscape Architecture Program recently won a competition held by the Los Angeles Department of Public Works to design drought-tolerant street medians for San Vicente Boulevard. The winning concept features easily reproducible materials and native plants, including desert willow, California gray rush and Pacific stonecrop. The contrast between the greenery and the surrounding concrete streetscape is intended as a visual metaphor for the blending of Southern California’s built and natural environments.

Even June Gloom failed to put a damper on construction at the LACMA campus on the Miracle Mile, where the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ (AMPAS) long-awaited museum is well underway. The $300-million undertaking, located at Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue, will create a showcase for AMPAS’ vast collection of filmmaking artifacts, including tens of thousands of still photographs, screenplays, production and costume design drawings, manuscripts and storyboards. These assets will be displayed through a series of galleries, exhibition spaces, educational spaces and on-site theaters.

After years of planning, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) has launched an official website for its proposed $600-million makeover, which would extend the campus over and across Wilshire Boulevard. The project, designed by the Swiss architect Peter Zumthor, is dubbed the LACMA Building for the Permanent Collection. According to its website, the approximately 368,000-square-foot structure would be comprised by eight semi-transparent pavilions supporting a main exhibition level. The main exhibition level would extend over Wilshire Boulevard to a separate museum-owned property on the south side of the street.