Steven Sharp WELCOME HOME

Back in August, the Downtown LA Examiner reported that the parking lot at the southwestern corner of 8th and Olive Streets was in escrow. It appears that the sale has now closed, as plans were filed earlier this month for a 27-story mixed-use tower at 801 S Olive Street. The building would contain 363 apartments above 10,000 square feet of ground floor retail space. Quite a change of pace for a corner that has served as a parking lot for over 60 years.

Over the summer, a proposal appeared for a mixed-use development on a pair of corner lots at the intersection of Vermont Avenue and James M. Wood Boulevard. I recently happened upon a rendering of the Vermont & James Wood via the Archeon Group, design architect for the two building project. Although the Archeon Group does not provide specifics on the dimensions of either building, both appear to stand over 10-stories tall, consisting of studio, one and two bedroom apartments.

Back out to the San Fernando Valley we go. A short walk up the street from the North Hollywood terminus of the Red and Orange Lines, plans are in the works for a mixed-use development at 11424 Burbank Boulevard. Here are the details from the project’s environmental report: 11424 W Burbank Blvd Construction of a 124 unit multi-family apartment and 750 sq. ft. of ground floor retail space, 56-ft. in height, on a 36,847 sq.

Seems like the Archeon Group’s work is showing up all over Koreatown these days. Last week we took a glance at a their very preliminary looking design for a mixed-use project on Vermont Avenue. Now we head north of Wilshire to check out renderings of 535 Kingsley Drive. The low-rise development, which was first spotted back in August, would contain 83 apartments and a parking garage within its six-story frame. Will the architecture win awards?

It’s the same old song and dance in South Park, as yet another surface parking may bite the dust to make way for apartments. Plans were submitted earlier this month for a seven-story mixed-use development at the northeastern corner of Olympic Boulevard and Olive Street. The new project, located at 924 Olive Street, would contain 263 residential units above 14,500 square feet of ground level retail space. The owner of the land appears to be Steve Needleman of Anjac Fashion, a major landlord in Downtown.

When we last saw the Columbia Square project in August, I wondered if the site was being readied for construction. We now have an answer, as excavation has started for Kilroy Realty’s $300 million re-development of the former CBS Studios. The parking lot on the northern side of the parcel is making way for two new office buildings and a 22-story residential high-rise, set to create 330,000 square feet of office space and 200 apartments.

Anyone tired of reading about mixed-use developments in Downtown yet? If so, you should probably leave now. The Department of City Planning just released the initial study for the Olympic and Olive Project, which was first spotted moving through the planning process in late summer. The seven-story development from Lennar Multifamily Investors would consist of 201 residential units above 4,126 square feet of ground floor commercial space. Plans also call for a three-level, 228 car garage in addition to 221 bike parking spaces.

Even with the locals in an uproar over increased traffic, density and earthquake faults, Hollywood’s development binge forges on. The contentious Millennium Hollywood has taken most of the heat, but there are other projects in the works which would provide the Capitol Records Building with tall neighbors. Documents released by CRA/LA indicate that Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants will be stepping in to re-develop a parcel just north of Hollywood Boulevard into the Argyle Hotel.

Koreatown has mixed-use developments springing up left and right these days, but this one comes with an Ivy League pedigree. Plans were submitted in late October for a six-story building at the southeastern corner of 8th Street and Harvard Boulevard. The project, appropriately named 8th & Harvard, would contain 131 residential units above 7,000 square feet of ground floor commercial space. Architectural work once again comes from the Archeon Group, which currently has several Koreatown projects in predevelopment.

In what may be the least surprising news ever, the long stalled eight-story office building proposed for 1601 Vine Street has suffered yet another delay. Unfavorable market conditions have set the project back for years, but this time the culprit is Los Angeles’ slow moving bureaucracy. When the J.H. Snyder Company took over development of 1601 Vine back in July, they agreed to break ground on the project by April 2014.