Friday, January 30, 2015

Controversial Arts District Complex Begins Work


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.

The design of the 400,000-square-foot complex, crafted by Kava Massih Architects, is intended to match the existing feel and aesthetics of the Arts District.  Renderings indicate that the project would include numerous murals, as well as industrial-themed exterior finishes with metal accents.

950 East Third Street (Image: Downtown News)

However, those initial touches proved insufficient to nearby residents and property owners, many of whom descended upon a community meeting this past summer to voice their displeasure with the development's scale, dearth of live-work units and auto-oriented design.  In the end, the outcry from neighborhood stakeholders yielded results, including a slight reduction in the project's parking accommodations (from 922 stalls to 774 stalls) and the addition of pedestrian-friendly green space in lieu of a new street.

A full build-out of 950 East Third street is expected to take three years, beginning with an initial phase of 248 residential units.  It is the third large-scale mixed-use development to break ground in the Arts District over the past several years, following One Santa Fe and the Garey Lofts.


8 comments:

  1. This looks straight out of Emeryville, which I don't mean as a put down. The architect designs a lot of projects up there. Many of which are built alongside linear park/passageways, something I love and am glad they are building instead of a new street.
    Looking forward to the regional connector and a redline station making this part of the arts district much more accessible to train riders like myself.

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    1. Arts District is a fun area to walk. A couple of Red/Purple Line stations would be a huge boon for the area.

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  2. Im not sure I get the neighborhood opposition to more parking. I don't know about during the week, but on the weekend this is one of the most difficult areas in LA to find street parking. If I lived down there I would want to be sure there were as many spaces as possible to accommodate all the residents and their visitors so that they aren't taking up those street spots. The notion that by reducing the number of spaces, people will suddenly use transit doesn't make sense to me. I'd rather have the convenience of my car and circle looking for parking (or pay for it) rather than take an hour of transit to get to the Arts District. On a separate note, I hope the retail component includes some terraced cafes/restaurants on that strip of park facing sic-arc, especially if it could be continued all the way down to 4th street -- which would mean sic-arc losing parking spaces.

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    1. I think some were opposed the parking, others wanted more. Business owners want the place to be accessible, but some of the more urban-minded residents want to keep the amount lower.

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  3. looks like this architect copied the concept by another architect which was done for this site at an earlier time :
    See: http://www.atelierv.com/vews/?p=1272
    Its strikingly similar in concept, I wonder if there is grounds for a lawsuit here!!

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  4. looks like this architect copied the concept by another architect which was done for this site at an earlier time :
    See: http://www.atelierv.com/vews/?p=1272
    Its strikingly similar in concept, I wonder if there is grounds for a lawsuit here!!

    ReplyDelete