Golang WELCOME HOME

Plans for a new low-income housing complex in Boyle Heights took a step forward last week, when the East Los Angeles Community Corporation (ELACC) began the process of relocating a 121-year-old home near the the Gold Line’s Soto Station. The Peabody Werden House, built in 1895, will move to a vacant lot across the street on June 30, where it will be restored and reactivated for the surrounding community. In its place, ELACC intends to construct the Cielito Lindo Apartments, a $23-million development which would include 50 one-, two- and three-bedroom dwellings and 5,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space.

New York-based real estate firm Tishman Speyer is finishing vertical construction for a two-building creative office complex in Playa Vista. The campus style development, designed by Michael Maltzan Architecture and Gensler, consists of five- and six-story structures featuring 425,000 square feet of offices, as well as a 9,000-square-foot daycare facility, 8,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space and a below-grade parking garage. The project, which is rising from nearly 10 acres of previously undeveloped land, is dubbed the Brickyard for its exterior of white-glazed thin brick.

The plan to revive streetcar service in Downtown Los Angeles has taken another step forward, with the release of the project’s draft environmental impact report (DEIR). The proposed streetcar would run along an approximately 3.8-mile loop through the heart of Downtown, connecting a number of destinations and neighborhoods such as the Wilshire Grand, L.A. Live, the Civic Center, the Historic Core, the Broad Museum, M.O.C.A. and the Walt Disney Concert Hall.

Onni Group, the Canadian developer which has embarked on a skyscraper building spree in South Park, is expanding its reach to the Civic Center. Last week, the Vancouver-based real estate firm reportedly entered into an agreement to purchase the longtime headquarters of the Los Angeles Times for $120 million. The 750,000-square-foot complex, known as Times Mirror Square, consists of multiple buildings spanning a full city block bounded by Broadway, 1st, 2nd and Spring Streets.

Local entrepreneur Adolfo Suaya has filed plans with the City of Los Angeles to construct a new hotel near the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The proposed development, slated for a .45-acre parking lot at 1717 N. Wilcox Avenue, would feature 134 guest rooms, a 2,500-square-foot ground-level restaurant, a rooftop bar and a 104-car parking garage. A case filing from the Department of City Planning indicates that the project would require several discretionary approvals, including a zone change and a site plan review.

The updated website of real estate firm Mitsui Fudosan America has published renderings for Eighth & Figueroa, a proposed residential-retail tower in Downtown Los Angeles. The new images, unearthed by the blog LAOCDB, portray the high-rise development as a boxy glass tower protruding from a four-level podium. The 43-story building, named for its location at 8th and Figueroa Streets, would feature 436 residential units, an outdoor amenity deck, 11,000 square feet of street-fronting commercial space, and parking accommodations for 460 vehicles and 400 bicycles.

Yesterday, Metro released a draft environmental impact report detailing plans for the long-sought light rail link to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). The proposed Aviation/96th Street Station, slated for an approximately 9.5-acre site one mile east of LAX, would be a multi-modal transportation center featuring: In a separate project, Los Angeles World Airports is in the planning stages for a 2.25-mile automated people mover system which would connect Aviation/96th Street Station to the LAX central terminal area, as well as two separate ground tranpsortation hubs and a consolidated rental car facility.

Although Related California continues to struggle with the Grand Avenue Project, the Irvine-based developer appears to be having better luck with a different stalled project near the Capitol Records Building. A photograph taken by Hollywood resident Paul Danielson shows that site preparation is now underway at 6230 Yucca Street, a vacant lot which Related purchased last year for $10.5 million. According to a grading permit issued last week by the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety, the half-acre property is being developed with an 18-story tower that will feature 114 apartments, 2,100 square feet of retail space and a five-level, 201-car parking garage.

Exterior work is nearing completion the nearly 100,000-square-foot expansion of the Otis College of Art and Design’s primary Westchester campus. The main component of the project - a five-story structure along the western perimeter of the campus - consists of separate residential and academic wings linked together by a 300-seat auditorium. When completed, the building will offer housing for up to 234 students, a library, academic space, a student union and a resource center.

After successfully navigating an unanticipated level of neighborhood resistance, work is finally getting underway on another large mixed-use development in Downtown Los Angeles’ burgeoning Arts District. Yesterday, while walking the neighborhood with Downtown icon Brigham Yen, a small crew was spotted prepping the dirt lot at 950 East Third Street for construction. The six-acre site, which is being developed in tandem by Associated Estates Realty and Legendary Development, will eventually birth a series of five-and-six-story buildings containing 472 apartments and 21,000 square feet of retail space.