Steven Sharp WELCOME HOME

An article in the Los Angeles Business Journal has offered a first look at Fig + Pico, a proposed hotel and retail complex in Downtown Los Angeles. The project, which is being developed by the New York-based Lightstone Group, would rise from an approximately 1.15-acre site fronting Pico Boulevard, Figueroa and Flower Streets. According to plans filed with the City of Los Angeles, the project would include a total of 1,100 guest rooms, which would be operated under three different hotel brands.

According to a memo from the Los Angeles City Council, a private entity has expressed interest in developing a pair city-owned parking lots in the Mid City neighborhood. The two properties, located at 4600-4616 W. Washington Boulevard and 4601-4615 W. Washington Boulevard, are currently zoned for industrial use. The Mid City Neighborhood Council has reportedly expressed a desire for a mixed-use development on the property featuring ground-level commercial space, rental apartments and replacement parking.

Vertical construction has commenced for Culver City Creative, a mid-rise office building from IDS Real Estate Group. The project, now rising from a three-acre property at Hannum Avenue and Bristol Parkway, will consist of a seven-story structure containing approximately 280,000 square feet of leasable space. Plans also call for a number of unconventional amenities, including a dog park, a basketball court and complimentary Uber service to Downtown Culver City, Playa Vista and the Expo Line.

Two images taken by architectural photographer Hunter Kerhart offer a before-and-after look at the Civic Center’s $400-million Federal Courthouse. The first picture, taken in June 2014 from the observation deck at Los Angeles City Hall, shows the 10-story courthouse near the beginning of vertical construction. The second image, captured in July 2016, shows the project as it nears completion. Designed by SOM, the building has been described as a glass cube floating above a stone base.

One year after we last dropped by, take a second look at Pico Boulevard’s mixed-use building boom in Downtown Los Angeles. The Project at Pico Between Olive and Hill Streets, vertical construction is nearing completion for a two-building development by a joint venture between real estate firm Mack Urban and engineering giant AECOM. The project, designed by the architecture firms A.C. Martin and Togawa Smith Martin, consists of two seven-story structures that will feature 360 residential units above approximatley 6,400 square feet of ground-floor retail space.

Later this week, the Los Angeles City Planning Commission will review “The Rise Hollywood,” a mixed-use complex proposed by a joint venture between Cal-Coast Development and Rescore. The $110-million project is slated for an approximately two-acre site at 1311 N. Cahuenga Boulevard, currently developed with a collection of small commercial buildings. Plans call for seven-story structure featuring 369 apartments, including 12 live-work units, 30 micro units and 20 units reserved for moderate income households.

A recommendation report from the Los Angeles City Planning Commission (CPC) has revealed renderings for Olive Hill, a proposed mixed-use development near Barnsdall Park in East Hollywood. The project, slated for a 1.6-acre site at 4900 Hollywood Boulevard, would consist of a six-story structure featuring 200 apartments, including 40 units reserved for low-income households. The proposed development would also contain slightly over 13,800 square feet of ground-floor commercial space, approximately 23,000 square feet of common amenities and 342 parking spaces in a partially underground garage.

Earlier this year, architecture firm Omgivning granted us a look inside the historic Sears, Roebuck & Company Mail Order Building in Boyle Heights. The 1.8-million-square-foot complex, built in 1927, is a well known landmark to freeway commuters, with a 226-foot-tall Art Deco tower that dominates the Eastside skyline. Mostly vacant since the early 1990s, it has been subject to numerous attempts at redevelopment in the decades since. Developer Izek Shomof, who purchased the building in 2013, has announced plans to convert the historic landmark and its surrounding property into a multi-use development featuring office space, apartments and pedestrian-oriented shops and restaurants.

This Tuesday, Fairfield Residential and Legendary Development will officially break ground on 950 E. Third Street, a large residential-retail complex in the Arts District. The project, slated for a six-acre lot adjacent to the Southern California Institute of Architecture, will consist of multiple low-rise buildings featuring 472 studio, one- and two-bedroom flat and loft apartments above 22,000 square feet of ground-level retail space. Amenities will include a social lounge, a dog wash and play yard, a swimming pool, a courtyard and a rooftop deck Designs from Kava Massih Architects take inspiration from the surrounding neighborhood, incorporating industrial-themed exterior finishes and mid-century modern stylings.

With completion nearing for the Dream Hollywood, plans are now in the works for a second phase of the development. Last week, Hollywood International Regional Center (HIRC) filed plans with the City of Los Angeles to build a new wing of the hotel on an adjacent L-shaped site, featuring 114 guest rooms, a parking garage and several food and beverage venues. The project would consist of an eight-story structure, created by adding seven floors above an existing one-story retail building at Selma and Wilcox Avenues.