Watch Anaheim's Iconic Transit Hub Take Form

Images by Rubbertoe of the Transit Coalition Forum

Over the weekend, Transit Coalition forumer Rubbertoe snapped a few pictures of construction work on the Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center, otherwise known as ARTIC.  The $180 million station is situated within Anaheim's Platinum Triangle, with easy access to the Honda Center, Disneyland, Angel Stadium and the Anaheim Convention Center.  The  Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum designed project will link multiple OCTA bus lines and the future Anaheim Streetcar with Metrolink and Amtrak train service.  ARTIC is also planned to serve as the southern terminus for Phase 1 of California High Speed Rail, providing one seat rides to Los Angeles Union Station and San Francisco's Transbay Terminal.  The first phase of CAHSR is scheduled to open in 2029, assuming that cost overruns and legal hurdles don't derail the project.  Of course, that's a big assumption given the current political landscape.  In the meantime, check out the construction camera tracking ARTIC's progress.  The station is scheduled to open late in 2014.

Still image from ARTIC's construction camera

• ARTIC Construction (Transit Coalition)
• ARTIC (Official Website)
• Build ARTIC (Construction Camera)

Downtown's Double Marriott Looking Good

The crane may have just come down last month for Williams & Dame's Courtyard Marriott/Residence Inn, but construction workers have wasted little time in finishing up the cladding on the building's eastern facade.  The 23-story tower, designed by GBD Architects, will create 393 new hotel rooms when it opens in summer 2014.  While the Marriott Tower was Downtown's lone high-rise bright spot when it broke ground in March 2012, an array of new and revived projects have emerged in South Park during the past year.  One block north on Francisco Street, IDS Realty and Shanghai's Greenland Holdings Group intend to partner on the $1 billion Metropolis development.  Across the street from Staples Center, the long-stalled Fig Central project was put up for sale this summer.  The Downtown Car Wash (seen in the foreground of the above picture) is reportedly in escrow, and will likely make way for a mixed-use development in the near future.  Williams & Dame Development also plans to break ground on a 450-room Renaissance Hotel in early 2014, located next-door to the under-construction Marriott.  Very exciting times for South Park.

• 901 West Olympic Boulevard (Official Construction Blog)

Rampart Village Getting Affordable Housing Action

Image from A Community of Friends

We don't hear about Rampart Village very often, do we?  Well, here it goes.  A Community of Friends, a non-profit affordable housing developer, recently filed plans for a mixed-use project at the southern end of neighborhood.  The project, dubbed "Beverly Terrace," would occupy a currently vacant lot bounded by Beverly Boulevard and Commonwealth Avenue.  The five-story building, designed by Playa Del Rey based Egan Simon Architecture, would contain 40 apartments, a 3,607 square foot child care facility, and 368 square feet of office space.  Beverly Terrace checks in with just 29 at-grade parking spaces in addition to 24 bike parking stalls.  Amenities include an 865 square foot recreation room and a 2,100 square foot roof top deck.  The project has an estimated budget of $13.2 million, with completion expected in May 2016.

• Beverly Terrace (A Community of Friends)
• Proposed Mitigated Declaration (LA City Planning)

The Platform Has Shovels in the Ground

A year and a half after the Expo Line finally brought rail service back to the Westside, Culver City is up to its ears in transit oriented developments.  Earlier this week, heavy equipment and sidewalk scaffolding showed up at the abandoned used car dealership across the street from Culver City Station.  It looks like the Runyon Group's highly anticipated mixed-use complex, known as "The Platform," is finally starting construction.  The project, designed by Abramson Teiger Architects, will create ample retail, restaurant and office space just east of Downtown Culver City.  It should provide a nice complement to Access Culver City, which broke ground in October.

• The Platform (Runyon Group)
• Culver City's First Expo Mixed-User Comes With Public Plaza (Curbed LA)

Hollywood Office Building Probably Delayed Again

1601 Vine Street, designed by Gensler

In what may be the least surprising news ever, the long stalled eight-story office building proposed for 1601 Vine Street has suffered yet another delay.  Unfavorable market conditions have set the project back for years, but this time the culprit is Los Angeles' slow moving bureaucracy.  When the J.H. Snyder Company took over development of 1601 Vine back in July, they agreed to break ground on the project by April 2014.  However, no company will issue title insurance to J.H. Snyder while the conveyance of the property still requires approval from the City's Department of Finance (DOF).  The DOF has indicated that their approval of the transaction would be evident via their approval of CRA/LA's Long Range Property Management Plan.  But therein lies the rub: there is no set timetable regarding when the DOF will complete their review of the plan.  Thus, CRA/LA has extended the groundbreaking deadline until the later of 1) DOF approval of the transaction or 2) December 31, 2014.  After seven years of waiting, what's an extra twelve months on top of that?  At least the mixed-use project across the street still seems to be on track.

• 1601 North Vine Street, Non-Monetary Amendment (CRA/LA)
• 1601 N Vine Street, Assignment of Disposition (CRA/LA)

Condos...in Koreatown?

Important question: what was the purpose of including the lamp post in this rendering?

Koreatown has mixed-use developments springing up left and right these days, but this one comes with an Ivy League pedigree.  Plans were submitted in late October for a six-story building at the southeastern corner of 8th Street and Harvard Boulevard.  The project, appropriately named 8th & Harvard, would contain 131 residential units above 7,000 square feet of ground floor commercial space.  Architectural work once again comes from the Archeon Group, which currently has several Koreatown projects in predevelopment.

Surprisingly, 8th & Harvard's case filing indicates that the project's residential component will be condo units rather than rental apartments.  While the Los Angeles real estate market has experienced a strong rebound in the past year, for-sale units seem like a big risk in this part of Koreatown.

8th & Harvard, as it currently exists.

• Case Information Summary Sheet (LA City Planning)
• 8th & Harvard (Archeon Group)

Kimpton to Develop Hollywood Boutique Hotel

Even with the locals in an uproar over increased traffic, density and earthquake faults, Hollywood's development binge forges on.  The contentious Millennium Hollywood has taken most of the heat, but there are other projects in the works which would provide the Capitol Records Building with tall neighbors.  Documents released by CRA/LA indicate that Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants will be stepping in to re-develop a parcel just north of Hollywood Boulevard into the Argyle Hotel.  The San Francisco based hospitality company is the largest operator of boutique hotels in the United States.  The Argyle Hotel would be their third Los Angeles location, joining Westwood's Hotel Palomar and the Miracle Mile's Hotel Wilshire.

The Argyle Hotel would stand 16-stories, consisting of  225 hotel rooms, 6,000 square feet of meeting space, and 3,000 square feet of restaurant space.  The hotel rooms would sit atop a four-story podium, containing three levels of above-grade parking and a ground floor lobby.  Just in case there wasn't enough parking already, the project would also include a 107 car underground garage.  At some point, Los Angeles based Coe Architecture International drew up designs for the hotel, seen below.  However, it is unclear if these renderings represent the current plans for the project.

All images from Coe Architecture International

Argyle Hotel on the right hand side.  A massing for 6230 Yucca can be seen center left in the image.

Argyle Hotel on the left.  6230 Yucca seen center right.

Don't hold your breath in anticipation, though.  Construction of the Argyle Hotel would first require the demolition of the nondescript five-story office building which currently stands at 1800 Argyle Avenue.  The ongoing effort to map the Hollywood Fault also poses a threat to the Argyle Hotel.  Should the California Geological Survey conclude that the fault line runs underneath 1800 Argyle, Kimpton would most likely be prevented from building on the land.  Neighbors Millennium Hollywood and 6230 Yucca are also stuck in limbo pending the conclusion of the study, expected sometime in 2014.

• Argyle Hotel (CRA/LA)
• Hotel Argyle (Coe Architecture International)