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With the recent installation of a tower crane, construction is now going vertical at City West’s massive Sixth & Bixel development. Work kicked off for the $200 million project last year, when Vancouver-based Holland Partner Group began converting a 1920s medical office tower at the corner Sixth Street and Lucas Avenue into apartments. The eight-story edifice, designed by A.C. Martin, will consist of 42 residential units when open in mid-2015. Holland Partner Group will reserve 27 of the building’s units as affordable housing, in accordance with a density bonus granted to the project.

After years of anticipation, Emerson College quietly opened its new Los Angeles campus to 130 students earlier this week. The 10-story structure, designed by LA-based Morphosis Architects, contains classroom space, meeting rooms, outdoor performance space and living accommodations for up to 200 students. A ground floor restaurant known as the Emerson Kitchen features a 40% vegetarian menu and greets Sunset Boulevard with patio dining space. The outdoor seating was well patronized this past Saturday (see below), and will provide a nice shot in the arm for foot traffic along Sunset in years to come.

More than 800 feet above the streets of Downtown Los Angeles, work has commenced on the steel skeleton of the Wilshire Grand’s sailboat-inspired crown. Images captured by architectural photographer Hunter Kerhart and crane operator Josh Wiggins showcase progress on the latticework structure, which will eventually anchor a stainless steel spire. The 1,100-foot tall tower, designed by Los Angeles-based architecture firm A.C. Martin, will feature approximately 360,000 square feet of office space, more than 45,000 square feet of shops and restaurants, and a 900-key InterContinental Hotel.

The effort to improve efficiency and capacity at Union Station has taken another step forward, as Metro begins preparing an environmental impact report for a long-planned series of upgrades to the historic rail terminal. Link Union Station, formerly known as the Southern California Interconnector Project, would allow Amtrak and Metrolink trains to pass directly through the station by creating as many as ten new tracks running south across the US-101 freeway trench, as well as a new loop track for operational flexibility.

Initial renderings of the $300 million Frank Gehry-designed mixed-user at 8150 Sunset were revealed this morning via Architectural Record. The 2.6 acre site developed by Townscape Partners is located at the intersection of Sunset and Crescent Heights Boulevards at the easternmost end of the Sunset Strip. The 333,600 square foot project will feature 249 residential units and 65,700 square feet of retail spread over five architecturally distinct buildings and organized around a central plaza.

An initial study published by the Los Angeles Department City Planning has unveiled new details about the SunWest Project, a residential-retail complex planned in East Hollywood by Los Angeles real estate firm Reliable Properties. The proposed development - slated for the northwest corner of Sunset Boulevard and Western Avenue - would consist of a low-rise structure featuring 293 dwelling units and approximately 34,000 square feet of ground-level commercial space. Residential units would consist of a mixture of studio, one- and two-bedroom floor plans, with 15 apartments reserved for very-low income households.

Last year, land owner Petros Tagylan broke ground on a new mixed-use development which is replacing a long vacant property in East Hollywood. The project, located on an approximately .79-acre lot at 5245 Santa Monica Boulevard, will consist of two low-rise buildings featuring a combined total of 49 apartments and 45,000 square feet of retail and office space. A five-story structure will front Santa Monica Boulevard, featuring 35 residential units on its three upper levels.

With the release of a draft environmental impact report (DEIR), a proposed mixed-use complex in East Hollywood has taken another step towards reality. The project, intended for a 1.1-acre site at 5750 Hollywood Boulevard, would consist of a seven-story edifice featuring 161 residential units on its upper levels. According to the DEIR, the low-rise building would offer an assortment of loft, studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments, 14 of which would be reserved for very-low income households.

According to plans filed with the city earlier this month, a small mixed-use development is headed to a .3-acre property in San Pedro, located just a short walk from Bandini Canyon Park. The new low-rise building would emerge from a currently vacant lot at 335 North Gaffey Street, consisting of 30 apartment units above street-level commercial space. Although current neighbors include an auto-oriented mixture of strip malls and drive-thru restaurants, the proposed residential-retail complex would likely benefit from Gaffey Street’s selection in Mayor Eric Garcetti’s Great Streets Initiative.

A mixed-use development consisting almost entirely of affordable housing is planned for a parcel located down the street from Exposition Park. Details read as follows: Rolland Curtis Partners, LLC is the owner of a site located at 1077 West 38th Street in the South Los Angeles Community Plan area in Council District 8. The Owner is proposing a mixed use project containing 140 residential units, including 138 deed restricted affordable units and approximately 8,000 square feet of commercial space (“project”).