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)

Steel Rises for Good Sam's New Medical Plaza

With the rapid expansion of Downtown LA's residential population, a variety of eateries and retail establishments have set up shop in the neighborhood.  Another (albeit less exciting) necessity for a growing community is improved medical services, an area which now must play catch up due to Downtown's growth spurt.  With that in mind, Good Samaritan Hospital's $80 million expansion finally got concrete in the ground this past August.  The steel skeleton of the Medical Plaza and Outpatient Pavilion currently stands two floors above the northeast corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Witmer Street.  When completed, the seven-story, 193,000 square foot edifice will house the hospital's radiology and oncology departments, in addition to an ambulatory surgery center.  The Ware Malcomb designed facility will feature a two-story lobby on Witmer Street, shared with one of the hospital's existing buildings.  Good Sam' also intends to foster new pedestrian activity in the Westlake neighborhood through the inclusion of a ground floor cafe and a window display focused on medical history.  The Medical Plaza will soon be joined by a slew of mixed-use neighbors, including the Valencia by Sonny Astani and a proposed 52-unit development across the street.

Old Lucia Tower Site Going Low-Rise

A Chinatown parcel that once harbored high-rise ambitions instead may give way for something much shorter.  Earlier this month, LA City Planning received an application for a mixed-use development at the northwest corner of Cesar E Chavez and Grand Avenues.  The project's case filing calls for a seven-story building, containing 225 residential units, 8,000 square feet of ground floor retail, and a two-level subterranean parking garage.  Back in 2006, the Downtown LA News reported that siblings Larry and Ralph Cimmarusti were working on plans for a 31-story mixed-use tower at this location.  The Lucia Tower, named for their grandmother, would have created 200 condominiums above a six-story podium on a lot sandwiched between G.H. Palmer's Orsini Apartments and the 101 Freeway.  Unfortunately, that vision was crushed by the collapse of the real estate market, just like so many other Downtown proposals from the mid-2000's.  Now it seems that the project is back in a form that actually has a shot at getting built.

The never built Lucia Tower, designed by the Archeon Group

• Case Information Summary Sheet (LA City Planning)
• The New Italian Job (Downtown LA News)

Check Out the Upcoming SFV Family Support Center

San Fernando Valley Family Support Center.  Image from HKS Architects via World Architecture News.

Back in September, longtime County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky announced that the San Fernando Valley Family Support Center was breaking ground in Van Nuys.  Located at the southwest corner of Van Nuys Boulevard and Saticoy Street, the 220,000 square foot project carries a price tag of $175.9 million.  When the LEED Gold certified facility opens in August 2015, the departments of Children and Family Services, Public Social Services, Child Support Services, Probation, Health Services, Mental Health and Public Healthy shall be unified under one roof.  Putting these agencies in close quarters will hopefully facilitate better collaboration, allowing them to serve the citizens of LA County more effectively.  The five-story structure was designed by Los Angeles based HKS Architects, whose prior work includes the Montage Beverly Hills.  A key feature of the 6.8 acre campus is its large interior courtyard, featuring numerous gathering spaces and a children's play area.  Family oriented, indeed.

• Bringing the Family Together (Zev Yaroslavsky)
• Family Comes First... (World Architecture News)

Little Osaka Parcel May Get Apartments

1900 S Sawtelle Blvd

Little Tokyo has seen construction start on a pair of new mixed-use developments within the past year, and now its Westside counterpart wants in on the action.  Plans were submitted last week for a 52-apartment development at 1900 Sawtelle Boulevard, located on the northern end of the Japanese-American cultural enclave sometimes referred to as Little Osaka.  The apartments would be housed within a five-to-six story building, featuring just under 3,300 square feet of ground floor restaurant space.  A document from the West LA Neighborhood Council indicates that the land owner is a Mr. Peter Wilson (probably not our former Governor).  However, you can expect some local Japanese-Americans to oppose this project for sentimental reasons.  The building at 1900 Sawtelle formerly housed the Harada Nursery, which was founded in 1948.  While not architecturally significant, the structure has served as a community landmark since shortly after the cessation of Japanese-American Internment.  Although Harada Nursery has not received landmark status, City Planning acknowledged the site's historical significance in a July newsletter.

• Case Information Summary Sheet (LA City Planning)
• PLUM Agenda 11/5/2013 (WLANC)
• West Los Angeles Individual Resources (LA City Planning)
• July 2013 Newsletter (LA City Planning)

Shiny New Rendering for Olympic & Olive

Here's a better look at the KTGY Group's design for the proposed Olympic & Olive mixed-use development, with credit to the Downtown LA Neighborhood Council's Planning and Land Use Committee.  The seven-story project from Lennar Multifamily Investors would contain 201 apartments and just over 4,000 square feet of ground floor retail to South Park.  Not to mention a reasonably sized 228 car underground garage, supplemented by 221 bike parking spaces.  As mentioned in previous coverage of this project, Olympic & Olive would fall just inside the eastern boundary of Councilman Jose Huizar's proposed interim control ordinance prohibiting wood-frame construction.  Adoption of the ICO would prevent Lennar from moving forward with the project as currently designed.

• Meet Olympic and Olive (Building Los Angeles)
• 1001 S Olive Presentation (DLANC)

Crane Action at the Wilshire Grand Site

Passers by may have noticed the recent addition of a mobile crane to the massive Wilshire Grand construction site.  Perhaps Turner Construction is about to install a larger stationary crane?  Or maybe it has something to do with tomorrow's "bottoming out," ceremony.  Crews have now excavated the site down to 106 feet below street level, capping off a demolition process which began late in 2012.  Soon afterwards, the Wilshire Grand begins a three year climb to its 1,100 foot apex.  When opened in 2017, the tower will contain 900 hotel rooms and 400,000 square feet of office space within 73 stories.  No need to mention the 70th floor lobby and the rooftop pool/observation deck.  Can it please be 2017 already?

• Wilshire Grand "Construction" Update (Building Los Angeles)
• Wilshire Grand Project to Hit Bottom (Downtown LA News)