Another Office Complex Begins Work in Playa Vista

Google's impending arrival in Playa Vista has set off a monumental shift in the West Los Angeles office market.  After years of searching for space in traditional creative hubs such as Santa Monica and Venice, numerous tech firms are now looking further south in order to situate themselves closer to the Bay Area heavyweight.  With this changing landscape in mind, a New York-based developer has broken ground on a speculative office complex directly across the street from Google's future twelve-acre campus.

According to commercial real estate publication Bisnow, Tishman Speyer is currently in design development for 407,000 square feet of office space Playa Vista Parcels 1 and 2.  The project, slated for completion in late 2016, will be split between five- and six-story structures at 12126 and 12099 West Waterfront Drive.  As of this week, preliminary grading and site preparation is underway for both of the low-rise buildings.

The speculative development begins work as Tishman Speyer nears completion on a nearby campus-style project known as the Collective at Playa Vista.  Slightly over 130,000 square feet of the five-building complex is already leased, thanks to Yahoo's recent decision to relocate from its current Santa Monica operations.  Bisnow also reports that Tishman Speyer is in negotiations with 72,000-square-foot tenant who would bring the development to full occupancy.

Plans Emerge for Playa Vista's Remaining Office Parcels

12099 and 12126 W. Waterfront Drive

With Yahoo! on the cusp of signing a 130,000-square-foot lease in the under-construction Collective campus, Tishman Speyer Properties is now forging ahead with plans for their remaining Playa Vista real estate.

According to a November case filing from the Department of City Planning, the New York-based developer intends to construct two low-rise office buildings adjacent to Playa Vista Central Park.  The first, a six-story structure, would rise from a nearly four-acre site at 12126 West Waterfront Drive.  Directly across the street, plans call for a five-story building and associated surface parking on the six-acre property at 12099 West Waterfront Drive.

City records do not currently indicate the exact footprints of the proposed buildings.  However, a January article from the Los Angeles Times reported that Tishman Speyer had entitlements to build up to 400,000 square feet of office space on the two properties

An Overhead Perspective on Playa Vista Phase Two

Only from above can one fully appreciate the massive amount of construction underway throughout the Playa Vista neighborhood.  The thousand-acre expanse, formerly a component of the Howard Hughes aerospace empire, is now giving birth to creative office space, pricey chain retailers, and thousands of luxury apartments, condominiums, and single-family homes.  Take a quick photo tour through phase two of the planned community, from a vantage point high up in the Westchester Bluffs.

Playa Vista Spec Office Complex Takes Form

Seven months after breaking ground in Playa Vista, construction is going vertical for the Collective, an $80 million office complex from developer Tishman Speyer.  The speculative development, designed by local architect Joey Shimoda, will create approximately 204,000 square feet of office space within a series of two-story structures.

Each of the Collective's five buildings are designed to emanate an "inviting yet industrial feel," with an open floor plan and exposed double-height ceilings.  Building materials are further in line with this warm, industrial look.  Interiors will feature wood flooring, steel columns and floor-to-ceiling windows.  Exteriors will be clad with precast concrete and wood paneling.

The 6.3-acre campus will feature a series of private garden patios, designed by landscape architect James Burnett.  These small pockets of green space will include a welcome court, event lawn, shared courtyards and gravel seating areas.

Recent growth in the Southern California office market may bode well for Tishman Speyer's speculative development.  With limited options remaining in creative hotspots such as Venice and Santa Monica, many businesses in the media, technology and entertainment fields have turned south to Playa Vista.  Consequently, the neighborhood's office vacancy rate now stands at 24.8%, a marked improvement from the previous year's 40% figure.

Image credit: Tishman Speyer

Fancy Senior Housing Complex Breaks Ground in Playa Vista

Image credit: Kilograph

Feast your eyes on the latest shiny object to sprout from the ashes of Howard Hughes's once expansive empire.  According to multiple sources, the Los Angeles Jewish Home has officially broken ground on the Fountainview at Gonda Westside, an upscale senior housing development in the Playa Vista neighborhood.  The $100 million complex will feature a series of low-rise structures, offering a total of 175 independent living units and 24 assisted living/memory care units.  Plans call for a wide battery of residential amenities, including a fitness center, library, screening room and a ground-floor cafe.  In addition, an accessible rooftop deck will offer both a swimming pool and a spa.  Completion is currently scheduled for sometime in 2016.

Plans from architectural firm Gensler call for a complex of six-story buildings, incorporating the sloping rooflines and wood paneling frequently seen on other Westside developments. The project's design  ingratiates itself heavily to the outdoors, both through its rooftop amenity deck and its expansive balconies.  Lush landscaping will surround the perimeter of the residential community and permeate into an internal courtyard.

A Glimpse into Playa Vista's Future Core

Take a hard look down Millennium Drive into the heart of Playa Vista's mixed-use construction binge.  The above image--sent yesterday by an e-mail tipster--portrays several of the structures which will eventually define the planned community's main commercial hub.

Near the center of the photograph, we see a construction crane raised high above Lincoln Property Company's Runway at Playa Vista.  The $260 million development will stretch from McConnell Avenue to Village Drive, offering wide sidewalks flanked by more than 200,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space.  Tenants will reportedly include Whole Foods Market, CVS Pharmacy and Cinemark Theatres.

Above ground level, the Johnson Fain-designed complex will offer 420 apartments and 35,000 square feet of creative office space.  Residential and commercial buildings will occupy both sides of Millennium Drive, rising between four and five stories in height.

Howard Hughes Center Expansion Back on Track

Image credit: Curbed LA

After years of delays, long awaited plans to add hundreds of residential units to Westchester's Howard Hughes Center are finally moving forward.  Earlier this year, ground was broken on a new apartment complex, located on a formerly vacant lot at 6040 Center Drive.  Rising six stories, the building will contain 218 apartment dwellings above two levels of underground parking.  Permit filings from the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety indicate that a second six-story residential complex is also planned across the street at 5900 Center Drive.  That building would be slightly larger in scale, consisting of 327 apartments in addition to underground parking accommodations.  Both residential structures would lie within walking distance of the Promenade at Howard Hughes Center, a two-level outdoor mall anchored by a luxury theater outpost.

6040 W. Center Drive

Playa Vista's Mixed-Use Runway Filling Out

If you had stopped by the sprawling Playa Vista campus in early 2013, you would have been greeted with acres upon acres of empty land.  One year later, you can't miss the obvious signs of construction stretching east from the Ballona Wetlands.  With steel beams and concrete pillars now protruding above Jefferson Boulevard, Lincoln Property Company's Runway is scheduled to open in late 2014.  With a $260 million budget, the mixed-use development will create 420 apartment units, 35,000 square feet of office space, and 221,000 square feet of pedestrian-oriented retail.  A wide range of big name retailers have already signed on as tenants at Runway, including CVS Pharmacy, Cinemark Theatres, Whole Foods Market, and Wells Fargo and Chase Banks.  The 14-acre development was designed by Downtown-based Johnson Fain, and will be centered around an iconic lantern-shaped tower.

As previously mentioned, construction is in full swing throughout the Playa Vista neighborhood.  Hundreds of for sale homes, market rate apartments and senior housing units are underway on the lots surrounding Runway.  Closer to Centinela Avenue, developer Tishman Speyer broke ground on a 200,000 square foot office development in March, with an additional 400,000 square feet still in the pipeline.   Just across the street from Runway, an adaptive re-use project at 5456 McConnell Avenue is currently transforming a low-rise office building into a new charter middle school.

Huge Residential Development Starts Work in Playa Vista

Traveling through the so-called "Lower Westside," you'll notice that construction activity is in full swing throughout the Playa Vista campus.  Lincoln Property Group's Runway has taken off, Tishman Speyer plans to break ground on 200,000 square feet of office space next month, and now work has commenced on a massive residential development at the corner of Jefferson Boulevard and Centinela Avenue.  Set to rise four stories, the building at 12481 West Fielding Circle would contain 703 apartment units above two levels of underground parking.  Future neighbors will inevitably be elderly and Semitic, as the Los Angeles Jewish Home intends to open the Fountainview at Gonda Westside just down the street in 2016.  On the opposite side of Jefferson Boulevard, a 196-unit luxury apartment development from the Texas-based Dinerstein Cos. is currently wrapping up construction.  Quite a bit of density, especially for a part of Los Angeles that has fought these kinds of developments for decades.  However, the recent influx of tech and creative industry jobs into Silicon Beach has created strong demand for additional housing units.

• Case Information Summary Sheet (LA City Planning)

Gensler Designed Senior Housing for Playa Vista

The Fountainview at Gonda Westside, image from Gensler via Kilograph

Back to Playa Vista, where the Los Angeles Jewish Home is currently working on their latest luxury retirement community.  The Fountainview at Gonda Westside is scheduled to open in 2016, creating 175 independent living units and 24 assisted living units.  The five-story, Gensler-designed structure will rise at the intersection of Jefferson Boulevard and Westlawn Avenue.  The building's "picturesque rooftop," features a swimming pool, spa, garden, cafe and observation deck.   Other residential amenities include a fitness center, library, and on-site theater.  As the Fountainview prepares to break ground, the rest of the Playa Vista campus is in the midst of a full on building boom.  Just a short walk away, Lincoln Property Group is hard at work on the $200 million Runway at Playa Vista, which will create a mixed-use complex consisting of apartments, office space, ground floor retail and (of course) parking.  Also under construction nearby is the Resort, a 25,000 square foot recreation facility featuring a fitness center and a Junior Olympic pool.  In addition, a variety of smaller for-sale and rental housing facilities are underway from developers such as KB Home and Brookfield Home.  This is shaping up to be a walkable, amenity laden community, full of the resources that car-free seniors will need.  Plus, the beach is just one-and-a-half miles west (if you're into that sort of thing).

Millennium Del Rey Has Lots of Stucco and a Little Hyperbole

Architectural renderings from the Dinerstein Cos.

Just north of Jefferson Boulevard and Centinela Avenue, Texas based Dinerstein Cos. is wrapping up construction on a development which has transformed the former site of a church into a multi-family residential complex.  The project at 5550 Grosvenor Boulevard, dubbed Millennium Del Rey, will create 196 apartments within a stucco-clad four-story structure.  Units in the LEED Silver Certified development will range from one to three bedrooms, featuring high-quality fixtures and smart home technology.  The Millennium's official website touts adjacency to the shops and restaurant of Playa Vista (yes) and Abbott Kinney Boulevard (not really).  While upscale shopping in Venice may be a little outside of walking distance (hence the project's four-level off-street parking garage), future residents of Millennium Del Rey will be located just across Jefferson from the Lincoln Property Group's Runway at Playa Vista.  It may not offer boutique clothing stores, but you can get your organic fix at the future Whole Foods Market.

Playa Vista Fills Out: Even More Office Space

Playa Vista may have lost out on Riot Games to West LA, but it looks like the massive lease has whet the appetite for additional creative office space on the Westside.  Next up is a project located on the far eastern edge of the Playa Vista's sprawling campus.  A triangular shaped parcel, bounded by Centinela Avenue, Artisans Way and Bluff Creek Drive, is the proposed site of a trio of low-rise office buildings.  While the project's case filing is light on details, we do know that the buildings would stand just two-stories, adjacent to a surface parking lot.  Not exactly stellar urban design, but that's pretty much par for the course with Playa Vista.  The new office buildings would be located just a stone's throw from the Entrada, the controversial office mid-rise proposed near the Westfield Culver City mall.

Project location, as it currently appears.

• Case Information Summary Sheet (LA City Planning)

Runway at Playa Vista Underway

Back on the Westside, construction is moving quickly on Lincoln Property Group's Runway development on Jefferson Boulevard.  The $200 million development broke ground in April, and is intended to provide a town center for the massive Playa Vista campus.  When completed in 2014, Runway will provide 420 residential units, 35,000 square feet of office space, and 221,000 square feet of retail space, served by a 1,400 car garage.  Announced tenants include CVS Pharmacy, Veggie Grill and Whole Foods Market.  The project was designed by locally-based architectural firm, Johnson Fain.

Runway's "lantern shaped tower," intended to be the central meeting space of the development.  Image from Lincoln Property Group.

Runway is located just down the street from a different proposal from Lincoln Property Group: the second phase of their Latitude 34 office campus, formerly known as Horizon.  The new office buildings would stand immediately north of the airplane hangar where Howard Hughes built the legendary Spruce Goose.  However, the timeline for the office project is still unclear.

Overhead map of the Latitude 34 expansion.  Image from Lincoln Property Group.

• Runway at Playa Vista (Official Website)
• Whole Foods to Anchor New Playa Vista City Center Project (Los Angeles Times)

199 Units of Senior Housing for Playa Vista

Fountainview at Gonda, designed by Gensler

It looks like a new senior housing development is on its way to Playa Vista, with design work from architectural firm Gensler.  The 199 unit Fountainview at Gonda will offer a laundry list of on-site amenities, described by Playa Vista Today as follows:

The ground floor of the Fountainview at Gonda will be called the Gallery and features many areas for interaction and engagement with community amenities including multiple dining venues, create arts studio, theater, library, salon, card room, lounge and cafe oriented around a large interior courtyard.

Additionally, the rooftop features additional amenities for residents' use including two fitness pavilions, a swimming pool and a large sundeck.  There is access to a cafe for outdoor dining as well as numerous lounging areas.  

It's not particularly urban, but senior housing isn't supposed to be. Still, you can count me as a fan of Gensler's design for this project.  The Fountainview looks modern and outdoorsy, which is the perfect look for the Westside.

The Fountainview joins another senior apartment development that was announced for Playa Vista in August.

• Gensler Selected to Design Playa Vista's New Fountainview at Gonda Westside (Playa Vista Today)

Is the Entrada Still Alive in Culver City?

The Entrada at 6163 Centinela

I was surprised to find that signs are still up for the Entrada, a 13 story Gensler designed office tower intended for a Culver City parking lot near Playa Vista.  The 220 foot tall/340,000 square foot proposal from Centinela Development Partners first emerged in 2008, but has yet to show any physical signs of progress.  The development was met by stiff opposition from neighbors in Culver City and Westchester, citing concerns about blocked views and increased traffic congestion.

Check out some images of the proposal pulled from the project's website:

View of the project's Centinela Avenue frontage.  A six story garage accounts for 1,250 parking stalls.

View of the building from the east.  The site currently serves as a parking lot for the Double Tree Hotel seen on the right.

Overhead view of the project site.

Centinela Ave streetscape.  Even the modest amount of pedestrian traffic portrayed here is optimistic for this 405 freeway adjacent area.

View from the nearby Howard Hughes Tower.

The Entrada would be highly visible from the 405 freeway.  The northern side of the building should make for very valuable ad space.

My guess is that the Entrada is several years away from groundbreaking, if it ever comes to fruition.  LA Business Journal reported that Playa Vista's office vacancy rate was close to 60% this past June, so conditions aren't exactly ripe for new construction.  Not all hope is lost, though.  Playa Vista has recently benefited from overflowing office demand in Venice and Santa Monica.  As "Silicon Beach," spreads further south, perhaps market conditions will improve enough to allow for new construction.  Maybe the long stalled Howard Hughes Center expansion could finally get underway.

In the very long term future (as in decades from now), this location would be well served by the proposed Sepulveda Metro Rail line.

• The Entrada
• Culver Office Tower Clears Panel (Daily Breeze)
• Playa Vista Building May Score Video Game Maker (LA Business Journal)
• Westchester Sidewalks Getting Facelifts While Howard Hughes Center Expansion Waits (Curbed LA)

Four Floors of Senior Housing Coming to Playa Vista

Are you a senior citizen who has always wanted to live across the street from where Howard Hughes once built a giant wooden airplane?  Then this new development might be for you:

12481 W FIELDING CIRCLE 90094

SENIOR INDEPENDENT HOUSING WITH 83 APARTMENT UNITS OVER 4-STORIES

Sure, the neighborhood doesn't look like much based on Google Maps images from 2011, but there's actually a flurry of construction activity going on right now.

On the other side of Jefferson Blvd, the 196 unit Millenium Del Rey is topped out with cladding slowly attaching itself to the wood framework.

Image from The Millenium.

And of course, much of that remaining empty space from the bird's eye image will go towards the $260 million Runway at Playa Vista.

Images from RunwayPlayaVista

Mixed-use buildings, wide sidewalks, pedestrian paseos, and even people on bicycles.  Everything screams "new urbanism."

Can't wait to pick up my Nyquil at DVS and pick up bread at Pocaccia.  Maybe I'll open up an account at West Bank?

Designed by acclaimed Los Angeles based architect Johnson Fain, Runway will provide a much needed centerpiece for the currently fragmented Playa Vista development.  Right now, eleven acres of vacant land separates the residential section on the west from the office buildings and park space on the east.  When completed, the complex will bring 220 residential units, 25,000 square feet of office space, and 200,000 square feet of retail (including a Whole Foods).

Of course, it's going to be a while before we're looking at anything resembling the above images, given that the site currently looks something like this:

Not much more than sticks in the ground at this point.