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.

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 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.