Steven Sharp WELCOME HOME

You wouldn’t think of development hungry Downtown LA as a bedlam for NIMBY activity, but there’s a first time for everything. Investment group BIMHF, LLC announced plans to convert a derelict structure at 1130 Hope Street into a 44-room boutique hotel back in 2012, but a group of neighbors have recently started fighting against the project. Homeowners in the adjacent Luma and Evo condominium towers have asked the Central Area Planning Commission to overturn the entitlements granted to the 10-story hotel project last year, included allowances for an open air pool deck and zero off-street parking.

The Greenland Group raised more than a few eyebrows when they boldly proclaimed that they’d break ground on the long awaited Metropolis development before the end of 2013. Turns out that they might not have been that far off. According to a document from the city’s Chief Legislative Analyst, the Chinese developer plans to start shoring and grading work for phase one of Metropolis on February 14. Phase one will emerge at the intersection of Francisco Street and James M Wood Boulevard, consisting of two high-rise structures above a pedestrian plaza.

With all of the excitement over new high-rises in South Park, you may have forgotten about some of Downtown’s mixed-use developments that aren’t rewriting the skyline. Perhaps it’s time for a refresher. When we checked in on Ava Little Tokyo last Fall, construction on the TCA Architects designed project had just progressed above podium level. Flash forward to 2014, and both of its six-story structures are topped out, with exterior work underway at 2nd and Los Angeles Streets.

Over the past year, Metro Rail’s increased passenger load has coincided with a slew of ugrades to the Financial District’s 7th Street/Metro Center Station. The latest in the ongoing series of improvements is the addition of next-train monitors on the station’s upper platform. Utilizing a large, ADA-compliant font size, these monitors display countdown timers for trains on Metro’s Blue and Expo light rail lines. These relatively simple upgrades can go a long way, given the hectic (and claustrophobic) rush hour environment within the station.

Chalk up another win for the development crazy South Park neighborhood. Late last year, plans were filed for a mixed-use development at the northwest corner of Pico Boulevard and Grand Avenue. 1249 Grand Avenue’s vague case filing provided little in the way of details, betraying only the fact that it would sit above a two-level subterranean parking garage. However, a permit application submitted to LADBS in late December has since shed some light on what’s to come.

It may have taken a decade to get here, but the former Little Joe’s restaurant is gone, and shovels have hit the dirt in Chinatown. The long awaited Blossom Plaza mixed-user finally got rolling last year, and since then construction crews have busied themselves prepping the site for excavation. Designed by local firm Johnson Fain, the $100 million project from Forest City Enterprises will rise five stories, creating 237 apartments and approximately 20,000 square feet of neighborhood serving retail space.

When San Francisco-based MacFarlane Partners announced their intent to purchase the former Park Fifth site, they indicated that their plans halved the square footage of the original proposal. Now we actually get a look at what they have in mind, via a presentation to the DLANC. Once intended to give rise to skyline altering towers of 76 and 43 stories, the surface parking lot across from Pershing Square will instead birth a 24-story residential tower and a low-rise apartment building.

The Hanover Company already has two mixed-use developments in the works along Olympic Boulevard, but three makes a party. According to a presentation given to the DLANC, the Texas-based developer intends to build another seven-story apartment building adjacent to their under-construction Olympic and Hill development. Dubbed Olympic & Olive, Hanover’s newest project would create 263 apartments and 14,500 square feet of ground floor retail space. The building would sit above a two-and-a-half level underground parking garage, with room for just 250 vehicles.

Last week, the Downtown News reported that newly formed developer Mack Urban plans to construct hotel and residential towers on surface parking lots surrounding the AT&T Center. According to a recent case filing with the Department of City Planning, the $750 million mixed-use project’s first buildings will be two high-rise structures at the northeast corner of 12th Street and Grand Avenue. The first tower, containing 461 residential units and 8,700 square feet of ground level retail space, would rise 41 stories at 1120 Grand Avenue.

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.