Steven Sharp WELCOME HOME

Downtown Culver City, long a destination for dining out, is quickly becoming a residential community thanks to the never-ending expansion of the Palms neighborhood. The latest chapter in this ongoing saga is headed to an approximately half-acre property located between Venice and Washington Boulevards. According plans filed earlier this month with the City of Los Angeles, a parking lot at 3822 Dunn Drive is slated to give way for an 86-unit apartment complex with a vehicular garage.

Just as one of West Los Angeles’ abandoned car dealership prepares for a mixed-use conversion, a similar development plan is emerging at the same intersection. According to a recent case filing from LADCP, a quarter-acre lot at the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and Westgate Avenue is slated for a new residential-retail development. Plans call for a four-story building, consisting of 39 apartments and ground-level commercial space. The apartments and retail stalls would be served by a three-level subterranean parking garage.

Nine months after purchasing the comatose Fig Central development for $200 million, Oceanwide Real Estate Group is finally taking the plunge in South Park. Last week, the Beijing-based developer issued $320 million in bonds that will reportedly be used to finance the construction of the mixed-use complex. Simultaneously, the developer has applied for the first in a series of LADBS approvals that will allow the long-delayed project to move forward. The recent LADBS filing describes Fig Central as a two-building development, offering a mixture of apartments and hotel rooms above ground-level commercial space and a health club.

Your eyes do not deceive you: the surface parking lot at the corner of 9th and Francisco Streets is no more. With a $39 million taxpayer subsidy in hand, Shanghai’s Greenland Real Estate Group has officially commenced work on the first half of the long-awaited Metropolis development. A skeleton crew quietly kicked off on the $1 billion project yesterday morning, stripping asphalt from the phase one site. The dirt lot seen above will eventually birth high-rise towers of 19 and 38 stories, creating 350 hotel rooms and 308 condominium units above street-level retail space.

Take another look at Bixel & 6th, the fortress-like mixed-use development currently sprouting next to Good Samaritan Hospital. Designed by Togawa Smith Martin, the six-story complex will offer 606 studio to three-bedroom apartment units, seated above 25,000 square feet of commercial space and a 762-vehicle parking garage. The $200 million development also entails the adaptive reuse of an A.C. Martin-designed office building, located at the corner of 6th Street and Lucas Avenue.

Representatives of the Wilshire Grand development ended months of speculation earlier today, announcing that Intercontinental Hotels & Resorts will operate the 73-story tower’s 900-room luxury inn. Surprisingly, that’s not the only hotel buzz emanating from Downtown Los Angeles at the moment. According to an interview with HOTELS Magazine, New York-based Hampshire Hotels Management is planning to open a new location in close vicinity to Staples Center and LA Live. CEO Eric Danziger states that the company is considering either the Time Hotel or another 3-star brand for their South Park outpost.

Highland Avenue continues down the road to its mixed-use destiny, as yet another residential-retail complex is headed to underutilized blocks south of Hollywood Boulevard. The latest project, intended for a set of parcels at 1233 N. Highland Avenue, would include 72 apartment units above ground floor commercial space. The mixed-use development is located one block south of a similar project from the Miami-based Lennar Corporation, which will create 76 residential units and 2,500 square feet of street level retail space near Hollywood High School.

As South Park’s latest mixed-use development starts work on Olympic Boulevard, why not head a few blocks south to check in on an earlier arrival to the Downtown development party? Directly across the street from the LA Convention Center, construction on the second and final phase of the $170 million Avant Apartments has now progressed to the fifth floor above ground. Located at 1500 South Figueroa Street, the mixed-use development from Century West Partners will top out at seven stories, containing 193 market rate apartments above 9,500 square feet of street level retail space.

The above image should be a very familiar to all passengers coming to and from the Expo Line’s current Culver City terminus. Nine months after breaking ground at the corner of Washington and National Boulevards, the Runyon Group is still roaring ahead with construction on their mixed-use development known as the Platform. The Abramson Teiger-designed project will feature an eclectic mixture of retail, restaurant and office space. Steel framing is now in place for Boxcar, a four-story creative office building located at northeast corner of Washington Boulevard and Landmark Street.

Construction is slow but steady in Koreatown, where developer Century West Partners is (still) working on the 347-unit phase two of their K2LA apartment complex. The two seven-story buildings, designed by local architect David Forbes Hibbert, have progressed slowly since breaking ground in late 2013. After nine months of construction, the structure at 685 New Hampshire Avenue protrudes just one floor above ground, while its companion at 680 Berendo Street has yet to reach street level.