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A city-owned parking lot in South Los Angeles could be redeveloped into a low-income apartment complex catering to homeless Angelenos. According to a motion put forth by 8th District Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson, the City is considering a long term lease agreement or a potential sale of the property at 88th Street and Menlo Avenue to Community Build Inc., a nonprofit organization which specializes in youth programs and economic develompent in South L.A.

Last month, a pair of tower cranes took their place in the Long Beach skyline, as a display of continued work on the $520-million revamp of the Long Beach Civic Center. The first phase of the project wil create a pair of mid-rise buildings, designed by SOM, which will serve as the new Long Beach City Hall and the headquarters of the Port of Long Beach. The replacement City Hall will be an 11-story, 270,000-square-foot building along Magnolia Avenue containing a 250-seat council chamber, meeting rooms, office space and various government services.

Prominent local real estate firm Jamison Services, Inc. has filed plans to build more apartments behind one of its office towers in Koreatown. The proposed development would create a 117,000-square-foot structure atop a parking garage at 678 S. Ardmore Avenue, containing 123 residential units. Plans call for the addition of five floors atop the two-level garage, creating a seven-story edifice. Jamison is also pursuing a similar project a short distance away on Western Avenue, where plans call for the addition of five floors of apartments atop a four-story garage.

With a pair of tower cranes now in place, developer Mack Urban is now ready to begin vertical constructon for its 37-story residential building in South Park. The project at 1120 S. Grand Avenue, which is being developed in partnership with AECOM Capital, will feature 512 dwelling units above 10,000 square feet of retail space and parking for 752 vehicles. This includes a series of townhouse-style units that will front an alley-way on the eastern side of the property.

Los Angeles-based real estate firm Centinela Development Partners has produced an updated design for its proposed creative office complex in Culver City. The Entrada, as the project is named, would rise from an approximately 3.7-acre lot at 6163 Centinela Avenue, adjacent for the San Diego Freeway. Plans call for an 11-story, 137-foot tall building, featuring six floors of office space above a five-story parking podium. At completion, the mid-rise structure would offer approximatley 270,000 square feet of leasable floor area, ground-floor restaurant space and 1,044 parking stalls for use by office tenants and an adjacent DoubleTree Hotel.

An undersized facility and a dearth of hotel rooms are two factors frequently cited in the struggles of the Los Angeles Convention Center (LACC). Over the past decade, the City has undertaken a number of strategies to address these two deficiencies, ranging from tax incentives for hotel developers to potentially adding new exhibition space above Pico Boulevard. The latest gambit may come in the form of a public-private partnership (P3) with one of the biggest players in Downtown real estate.

Local real estate firm Pacific Property Partners has formed a joint venture with the private equity firm Sun Capital to build a Cambria Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles. The project, which is slated for a property at James M. Wood Boulevard and Georgia Street, will consist of an 18-story tower featuring 247 guest rooms and ancillary functions, including meeting rooms, a fitness center, restaurant space and a rooftop pool. According to a statement released by Sun Capital, the proposed Cambria Hotel emerges as the Downtown market suffers from a severe shortage of hotel rooms.

Leaders in business, government and research return to Los Angeles on November 10 for CityAge: Build the Future. CityAge: Build the Future, in Downtown Los Angeles on November 10, will look at the investments in infrastructure, innovation, resilience, transportation and energy systems that are required to build a globally competitive urban economy in the 21st Century. The conference will gater a leadership network of executives in government, architecture and planning, academia, investment, engineering and technology who are building L.A.’s future.

A proposed east-west bike path through South Los Angeles now has an opening date. According to a post on Metro’s blog the Source, the Rail-to-Rail/River Project is scheduled to open in 2019, shortly before the anticipated completion date of the Crenshaw/LAX light rail line. The project, which has been spearheaded by the office of County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, would convert a portion of the Harbor Subdivision right-of-way into an active transportation corridor capable of accommodating cyclists and pedestrians.

Developer Natura City, LLC has received the approval of the City of Irvine to begin construction on a seven-story, 120-unit condominium complex. The Blue Bay development, slated for a nearly two-acre site in the Irvine Business Complex, will offer a mixture of one-to-four-bedroom apartments, ranging from 842 square feet to 2,260 square feet in size. Plans call for a rooftop pool deck, external townhome units and a parking garage at the interior of the building.