Development WELCOME HOME

Although Metro’s Expo Line has experienced no lack of proposed office, residential, hotel and retail developments near its Westside stations, investment has noticeably lagged in-between Culver City and Downtown LA. Well get ready South Los Angeles: Expo/Vermont Station is finally getting some much needed TOD action. Non-profit organizations T.R.U.S.T. South LA and Abode Communities are partnering on the redevelopment of Rolland Curtis Gardens, a 48-unit affordable housing complex located one block west of Vermont Avenue.

Earlier today, the University of Southern California unveiled preliminary plans for the highly anticipated renovation of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The 93,607-seat stadium, built in 1923, is one of the country’s most storied sporting venues, with a list of past and current tenants that includes multiple NFL teams, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the USC and UCLA football programs. Most notably, the Coliseum played host to both the 1932 and 1984 Summer Olympic Games, and would serve a prominent role in Los Angeles’ efforts to win the 2024 installation.

After six years of planning, the Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) is finally preparing to begin construction this summer on a $20-million MyFigueroa project that will make enhance cycling and pedestrian infrastructure between Exposition Park and Downtown Los Angeles. Per the website of LADOT’s Bike Program, MyFigueroa will include the following elements: Figueroa Street from 7th Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard 11th Street from Figueroa Street to Broadway Martin Luther King Jr.

Southern California may be shrouded by thick fog this week, but progress on an affordable housing complex is clear in South Los Angeles. Paloma Terrace, a development from the Retirement Housing Foundation, has now reached its fourth and final level above ground. The approximately $15-million project will include 59 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments. According to a document from the California State Treasurer’s Office, rents in the low-rise complex will range from $458 to $1,272 per month.

Over one year ago, developer PRH LA Mart unveiled ambitious plans to build a high-rise complex on the border between Downtown and South Los Angeles. The project - budgeted at approximately $1-billion - would replace a pair of large surface parking lots with a combination of residential units, hotel rooms and pedestrian-oriented commercial space. Yesterday, the Los Angeles Department of City Planning published a new draft environmental impact report (DEIR), revealing new information about the mixed-use development, which is now called “the Reef.” The completed development calls for approximately 1,664,000 of new floor area, divided between two properties known as the West Block and the East Block.

On the southern fringe of Downtown Los Angeles, construction is underway for a mixed-use development that will add residential density near an underutilized stop on Metro’s Blue Line. The low-rise complex from developer Meta Housing Corporation is rising from an approximately .67-acre site at 722-736 E. Washington Boulevard. According to plans filed with the City of Los Angeles, the project will include 55 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments situated above 1,500 square feet of ground-floor retail space and parking accommodations for up to 63 vehicles.

One year ago, the MLS expansion team LAFC announced a proposal for a $250-million soccer stadium in Exposition Park. Several months later, the University of Southern California followed with plans for a $270-million renovation of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. With more than a half-billion dollars worth of projects now in the pipeline, it appears that investors are now eyeing nearby properties Last week, the Irvine-based Spectrum Group requested an environmental assessment from the City of Los Angeles for a proposed mixed-use develompent directly across the street from the upcoming soccer stadium.

You pretty much couldn’t look anywhere without seeing news about the LA River revitalization efforts today. With the Army Corps of Engineers set to release their feasibility study in August, the LA Times laid out the three most likely results in today’s front page article: 1. Alternative 13, which calls for strategic removal of concrete and restoration of the natural ecosystem at various points of the river between Griffith Park and LA Union Station.

Construction on the Expo Line’s bridge over Venice Blvd. In a few short years, this bridge help carry thousands of passengers every day between Downtown Santa Monica and Downtown Los Angeles.

Century City will never be a walker’s paradise, even when it does get its long awaited subway station (hopefully less than 15 years from now). It’s cold and aloof, with buildings that (for the most part) refuse to meet the sidewalk. Generous accommodations for the automobile are strewn about. Its retail accommodations are almost exclusively encompassed by the fortress like Westfield Century City mall. Nonetheless, Century City is on pace for a massive amount of construction activity in the coming five years.