Steven Sharp WELCOME HOME

In an upcoming presentation to the Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council’s Planning and Land Use Committee (DLANC), developer Career Lofts-LA, LLC will provide new details about a proposed mixed-use complex in City West. The high-rise and low-rise development, dubbed the Bixel Residences, is slated for L-shaped property at the intersection of Bixel and Ingraham Streets. Plans call for a 36-story tower to rise on the northern half of the property, featuring 422 apartments above approximately 5,600 square feet of neighborhood-serving commercial space.

Near the southwest corner of Wilshire and Harvard Boulevards in Koreatown, prominent local real estate firm Jamison Services, Inc. is in the midst of construction on a multifamily residential complex. The seven-story development, named for its location at 3640 Wilshire Boulevard, will feature 209 studio and one-bedroom apartments above 3,100 square feet of neighborhood-serving commercial space. Planned amenities include a fitness center, a rooftop terrace, a swimming pool and a zen garden.

Earlier this year, New York-based Atlas Capital Group began upgrading a pair of historic buildings in the Downtown Los Angeles into modern offices and retail space. At the southeast corner of 7th and Olive Streets, crews are currently gutting the interior of the 99-year-old LA Jewelry Mart. The six-story edifice, built in 1917 as a Villa de Paris department store, features approximately 85,000 square feet of office space on its upper levels and 14,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space.

Plans for a new low-income housing complex in Boyle Heights took a step forward last week, when the East Los Angeles Community Corporation (ELACC) began the process of relocating a 121-year-old home near the the Gold Line’s Soto Station. The Peabody Werden House, built in 1895, will move to a vacant lot across the street on June 30, where it will be restored and reactivated for the surrounding community. In its place, ELACC intends to construct the Cielito Lindo Apartments, a $23-million development which would include 50 one-, two- and three-bedroom dwellings and 5,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space.

New York-based real estate firm Tishman Speyer is finishing vertical construction for a two-building creative office complex in Playa Vista. The campus style development, designed by Michael Maltzan Architecture and Gensler, consists of five- and six-story structures featuring 425,000 square feet of offices, as well as a 9,000-square-foot daycare facility, 8,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space and a below-grade parking garage. The project, which is rising from nearly 10 acres of previously undeveloped land, is dubbed the Brickyard for its exterior of white-glazed thin brick.

The plan to revive streetcar service in Downtown Los Angeles has taken another step forward, with the release of the project’s draft environmental impact report (DEIR). The proposed streetcar would run along an approximately 3.8-mile loop through the heart of Downtown, connecting a number of destinations and neighborhoods such as the Wilshire Grand, L.A. Live, the Civic Center, the Historic Core, the Broad Museum, M.O.C.A. and the Walt Disney Concert Hall.

Onni Group, the Canadian developer which has embarked on a skyscraper building spree in South Park, is expanding its reach to the Civic Center. Last week, the Vancouver-based real estate firm reportedly entered into an agreement to purchase the longtime headquarters of the Los Angeles Times for $120 million. The 750,000-square-foot complex, known as Times Mirror Square, consists of multiple buildings spanning a full city block bounded by Broadway, 1st, 2nd and Spring Streets.

Local entrepreneur Adolfo Suaya has filed plans with the City of Los Angeles to construct a new hotel near the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The proposed development, slated for a .45-acre parking lot at 1717 N. Wilcox Avenue, would feature 134 guest rooms, a 2,500-square-foot ground-level restaurant, a rooftop bar and a 104-car parking garage. A case filing from the Department of City Planning indicates that the project would require several discretionary approvals, including a zone change and a site plan review.

The updated website of real estate firm Mitsui Fudosan America has published renderings for Eighth & Figueroa, a proposed residential-retail tower in Downtown Los Angeles. The new images, unearthed by the blog LAOCDB, portray the high-rise development as a boxy glass tower protruding from a four-level podium. The 43-story building, named for its location at 8th and Figueroa Streets, would feature 436 residential units, an outdoor amenity deck, 11,000 square feet of street-fronting commercial space, and parking accommodations for 460 vehicles and 400 bicycles.

Yesterday, Metro released a draft environmental impact report detailing plans for the long-sought light rail link to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). The proposed Aviation/96th Street Station, slated for an approximately 9.5-acre site one mile east of LAX, would be a multi-modal transportation center featuring: In a separate project, Los Angeles World Airports is in the planning stages for a 2.25-mile automated people mover system which would connect Aviation/96th Street Station to the LAX central terminal area, as well as two separate ground tranpsortation hubs and a consolidated rental car facility.