Watch Metropolis Reshape the Downtown Skyline

Your eyes do not deceive you: the surface parking lot at the corner of 9th and Francisco Streets is no more.  With a $39 million taxpayer subsidy in hand, Shanghai's Greenland Real Estate Group has officially commenced work on the first half of the long-awaited Metropolis development.  A skeleton crew quietly kicked off on the $1 billion project yesterday morning, stripping asphalt from the phase one site.  The dirt lot seen above will eventually birth high-rise towers of 19 and 38 stories, creating 350 hotel rooms and 308 condominium units above street-level retail space.  San Francisco-based Webcor Builders, general contractor for the Metropolis development, has fortunately installed a construction camera directly across 9th Street.  Take your progress updates every fifteen minutes in glorious HD.

The Greenland Group is currently in the planning stages for a more grandiose phase two of the project, which would create larger buildings near the intersection of 8th and Francisco Streets.  Gensler-designed plans filed with the city call for a total of 1,250 condominium units and 67,000 feet of commercial space.  An updated rendering of Metropolis from brokerage firm Douglas Elliman portrays the second phase with two additional towers, featuring glass exteriors and sloping roof lines (see below).

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.

Playa Del Rey's Strand Offices Looking Good

Silicon Beach's creative office boom has officially hit Playa Del Rey.  When we last checked in on the Strand Offices in September 2013, the low-rise development's wood skeleton was still taking form.  Ten months later, the twin three-story structures are clad in plaster and wood paneling, closely resembling architectural renderings from the MiKA Design Group.

The $6 million development from Cove Spring Partners consists of 10,000 square feet of office space and parking accommodations for 32 vehicles.  Located at 311 and 315 Culver Boulevard, the buildings are situated less than a ten-minute walk from the beach, along a corridor rich with retail and restaurant establishments. 

Although Playa Del Rey has thus far retained its mid-century identity as a quaint, beachfront community, the Strand Offices may be a harbinger of the neighborhood's future.  The colossal Playa Vista campus looms one mile east, comprising more than 1,000 acres of residential, office and retail uses.  Two blocks west of the Strand, the controversial Legado Del Mar development is planned for a triangular-shaped property bounded by Culver Boulevard, Pacific Avenue and Vista Del Mar.

Boutique Hotel Planned on Cahuenga Boulevard

Although still rough around the edges, the blocks east of Hollywood/Vine Station have suddenly become a breeding ground for hotel developments.  Earlier this year, the West Coast's first Dream Hotel location broke ground on Selma Avenue.  Soon, it will be joined by another hospitality project a half-block south.

As first reported by Bisnow, an unspecified developer has recently leased a mid-block parcel on Cahuenga Boulevard with the intent of constructing a boutique hotel.  Plans submitted to the Department of Building and Safety call for a seven-story structure at 1525 North Cahuenga Boulevard, featuring 55 guest rooms and a rooftop pool deck.  The project would also include a bar and restaurant space.

In addition to the Dream Hollywood, the boutique hotel is joined by two other large-scale developments south of Sunset Boulevard.  Last month, Kilroy Realty unveiled plans for a $300 million mixed-use campus, slated for a city block in-between Vine Street and Cahuenga Boulevard.  Directly across the street, a partnership between Florida-based Rescore and Cal-Coast Development proposes a similar complex, consisting of 300 apartments and 18,000 square feet of office space.

Whoa: Eric Owen Moss's Expo-Adjacent Tower Pulls Permits

Expo Line passengers in-between the Culver City and La Cienega/Jefferson Stations might be getting some very noticeable eye candy in the not-so-distant future.  Believe it or not, LADBS permits appear to be in the works for (W)rapper, the poorly-named, Eric Owen Moss-designed creative office building slated for the intersection of Jefferson and National Boulevards.

Due to an extremely high floor-to-ceiling ratio, the 12-story tower would stand 230 feet tall, giving it a monolithic presence within the primarily low-rise Baldwin Hills neighborhood.  Consisting of just over 150,000 square feet of office space, (W)rapper's design would utilize a "continuous system of curvilinear ribbons," to allow for completely open floor plans.  The tower would rise above three levels of parking -- one at-grade and two below ground.

The project is being developed by Samitaur Constructs, landlord of the Conjunctive Points creative office haven.  The firm has engaged in a successful partnership with Eric Owen Moss Architects over the past several decades, creating a multitude of undulating structures that fascinate potential tenants and passersby alike.  (W)rapper would be their most ambitious collaboration to date, and one of only a handful inside Los Angeles city limits.

West LA Car Dealership Making Way for Mixed-User

As reported by car-blogger Todd Bianco, West Los Angeles's Buerge Ford closed its doors this Spring after nearly 100 years of business.  However, the former car dealership's 1.3 acres of Santa Monica Boulevard will not sit vacant for long.  According to plans submitted to the city late last month, the property will soon be converted into a mixed-use apartment complex.  As indicated by the project's LADCP case filing, the proposed development would rise four stories, containing 157 dwelling units and slighty over 44,000 square feet of ground floor retail space.

Located at 11800 Santa Monica Boulevard, the new residential-retail complex would sit within shouting distance of several planned or under-construction developments.  Just two blocks east, West LA's former "Ghetto Vons," is being replaced by a new, pedestrian-friendly Pavilions supermarket.  Further north, developer Douglas Emmit, Inc. intends to construct a 34-story apartment tower on Wilshire Boulevard.

The apartment complex would also sit across Granville Avenue from a second empty dealership belonging to the Buerge Motor Car Company.  Perhaps a similar redevelopment scheme could be on the way?

•  Buerge Ford Bites the Dust (A Car is Not a Refridgerator)

• Case Information Summary Sheet (LADCP)

Fresh Renderings of the Almost-Finished Sunset Gordon Tower

All images from RKF

After numerous lawsuits and cries of corruption, CIM Group's $100 million Sunset Gordon tower is expected to open later this year.  The 23-story high-rise--which broke ground in 2012--will soon infuse a sleepy section of Sunset Boulevard with 300 apartments, 14,000 square feet of ground floor retail space, and 40,000 square feet of creative office space.  Although the building's real-life appearance deviates significantly from earlier renderings (Hello, stucco!), a new set of promotional images paints a rosier picture for the project.

At ground level, Sunset Gordon will faithfully recreate the facade of Hollywood's Old Spaghetti Factory restaurant, which was demolished to make way for the tower.  Opened in 1924, the one-story building first served as a showroom for the Peerless Motor Company and later as a radio broadcast facility for KNX and KMPC.  CIM Group will incorporate several design elements salvaged from the original structure into Sunset Gordon's ground floor, including windows and wooden trusses (see interior renderings below).