8TH & GRAND | 7 FLOORS | U/C

[soup or man]

It starts construction tomorrow. Go down there. Take lots of pics. Knock yourself out. Have a blast.

[Mojeda101]

....Are you enjoying yourself?

[soup or man]

Immensely.

[Mojeda101]

I didn't expect a sarcastic member to just blatantly lie to a curious member. I didn't know it was illegal to ask of the status if it was on hold, under construction or cancelled.

[soup or man]

Common sense should tell you that considering that there is pages and pages of info for different projects, chances are very high that if any new news breaks for any project ANYWHERE ON EARTH, it will be posted.

In other words, don't bump threads unless you have information of a project, or something to add to a conversation. Simple as that.

[Mojeda101]

Someone who doesn't go on these forums often wouldn't know that. Look at the other projects on the LA forums. Some of those have been completed and never built, why do they continue to haunt the forums?

[milquetoast]

"Some of those have been completed and/or never have been built,"

Or ...

"Some of those have been completed or have never been built,"

[tanzirian]

Originally Posted by Mojeda101

Someone who doesn't go on these forums often wouldn't know that. Look at the other projects on the LA forums. Some of those have been completed and never built, why do they continue to haunt the forums?

Mojeda, I understand why the others got annoyed with you...it's not helpful to resurrect a bunch of very old threads just to ask other forumers for an update...if there were any news that any of us was aware of, it would have been posted already. So, when someone posts something in these old threads, we look there expecting new news, not just a question about a status update. When that happens in multiple threads, people may get annoyed. Don't take it personally...I know you have posted some great updates before, like a recent one on the Broad Museum.

However, I understand one reason for your confusion in regards to these stale projects. A few months ago, our forum was reorganized, but some of the changes have been unintuitive. For example, we have a section called "Development News" tucked away inside the "Projects" section. The stale proposals are more prominently featured in the latter section, while the more current projects are somewhat hidden away in the former. A solution to this may be to eliminate the news subsection, and perhaps to create a new subsection for stale proposals instead.

[soup or man]

Walked by 8th and Grand yesterday. The entire lot is fenced off by green construction fence (though there were some cars parked) but they already started stripping away some asphalt on the Olive Street side. Also taped to some of the trees were noticed of tree removal and sidewalk improvement. Looks like 8th and Grand is nearing construction.

[milquetoast]

Originally Posted by soup or man

Looks like 8th and Grand is nearing construction.

GOD BLESS YOU, YOUR MAJESTY!!

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

indeed it is. i have a birds eye view on this so i will update as soon as something else happens

[JRinSoCal]

The only good thing about this project is that it will fill another large gap in downtown. I mean for a developer to acquire such a prime piece of downtown real estate, and turn it into something that looks like just another larger Vero is just pathetic. Seriously, they'll be kicking themselves in the foot 20 years from now. Something much grander such be built on that site plain and simple. Just my 2c.

[Westsidelife]

^ Taller isn't necessarily better though. The most desirable neighborhoods in the world have medium density.

[GatsbyGatz]

The height of this building is nothing to scoff at whatsoever. Cities like Portland, Seattle, or San Francisco have plenty of buildings even under 7 floors located within its most vibrant neighborhoods. What matters is action on the ground level and infill. What DTLA needs is its own 3rd Street Promenade or Colorado BLVD. If Broadway were to be filled in with chain stores, DTLA would gentrify overnight. As much as the idea of "chain stores" seems "unauthentic" and "Disneyfied", the presence of these stores in downtown could singlehandedly change our entire downtown.

[soup or man]

Originally Posted by JRinSoCal

The only good thing about this project is that it will fill another large gap in downtown. I mean for a developer to acquire such a prime piece of downtown real estate, and turn it into something that looks like just another larger Vero is just pathetic. Seriously, they'll be kicking themselves in the foot 20 years from now. Something much grander such be built on that site plain and simple. Just my 2c.

Not at all. Sure we all would want skyscrapers all over downtown, but skyscrapers usually kill the streetlife and are only alive from 9-5 (tall residential skyscrapers are even worse). Buildings like 8th and Grand, while short, are much more accessible and human than any skyscraper could ever be. Plus the idea of retail wrapping on all sides of a *very* large plot only enhances the idea that 8th and Grand will make a much stronger impact in the long run. More than any skyscraper should.

Look at Hollywood as an example. Nothing taller than 25 stories has been built since but you can already see the difference smaller buildings are making.

And comparing 8th and Grand to Vero is a good thing considering it's doing pretty well and the small little restaurants on the bottom are always busy.

[pesto]

Originally Posted by GatsbyGatz

The height of this building is nothing to scoff at whatsoever. Cities like Portland, Seattle, or San Francisco have plenty of buildings even under 7 floors located within its most vibrant neighborhoods. What matters is action on the ground level and infill. What DTLA needs is its own 3rd Street Promenade or Colorado BLVD. If Broadway were to be filled in with chain stores, DTLA would gentrify overnight. As much as the idea of "chain stores" seems "unauthentic" and "Disneyfied", the presence of these stores in downtown could singlehandedly change our entire downtown.

Backwards: the chain stores move in because the 'hood has gentrified. Otherwise why wouldn't Willowbrook put in chain stores and become SaMo?

I will agree that highrise neighborhoods are generally undesirable for streetlife. Inner London or Paris beats Isle of Dogs or La Defense.

[GatsbyGatz]

Originally Posted by pesto

Backwards: the chain stores move in because the 'hood has gentrified. Otherwise why wouldn't Willowbrook put in chain stores and become SaMo?

I will agree that highrise neighborhoods are generally undesirable for streetlife. Inner London or Paris beats Isle of Dogs or La Defense.

Is it backwards? I've read that the redevelopment of Old Pasadena vastly changed the face of downtown, as that area was quite sketchy before that. "Build it and they will come." Gentrification spurs investment, but investments spur gentrification. It works both ways, one needing to happen for the other to get rolling.

[klamedia]

You wouldn't want to just stick in a bunch of businesses that the people who are living around them couldn't afford would you? So the process usually happens the other way around and "pest" is right.

The people come who are attracted to the neighborhood usually because of its authentically old housing stock and charming pre-auto urban layout. The houses and/or multifamily housing can't be found anywhere else in the city except for these inner ring communities making them especially valuable. For those that can afford to buy into the neighborhood either by way of loans or by outright city incentives, they restore these beautiful places back to their glory days or close enough. Businesses that are located there begin to purchase and sale higher end items in reaction to their new neighbors. The owner of the retail parcel that houses these businesses notices the change in clientele and uptick in inventory begins to charge more rent for the space. Some shops fail but in their place comes even more high end stores now that the word is out that the hood has changed. Yuppie-types begin jogging around the neighborhood which is better than digital billboard advertisement. Cafes open with their new clientele on full display seated outside and outfront (very important). Like the waving of a wand by the Good Witch Glenda, miraculously public services become decidedly better! Cops don't drive around slowly and menacingly looking for the next crack house to invade or question you redundantly about Peter, Pablo or Pookie any longer. No, now they've changed to street beat cops. Police that walk on the very sidewalk that you do saying "hello","pardon me" and "let me hold that door for you".
By this time in this long drawn out soft shoe performance your own rent has increased, the corner store isn't the store that it used to be where you could buy "regular" bread and Goya products. Now it's all baguettes and organic brown rice and quite honestly it makes you feel not as welcomed anymore.
The new people look different, act different, buy different and most importantly live differently than you do. You eventually pack up and move down "Souf", that is Alabama, Georgia, Texas etc. or further out to the land of the New Po...the outer ring suburbs. No one realizes that you have left because all of the folks that would've noticed left before you anyway. The new people in the neighborhood that arrive after you leave and take your newly renovated apartment for double the rent use words to describe the time period that you lived in and loved your neighborhood along with your wonderful friends as a time of "sketchiness", "gang infested", "unsafe" and "rundown". They're not only talking about the built environment but they're talking about you too. Your old dimly lit drinking hole where you fought, fell in love and fell down on occasion will not be preserved. Those amazingly sensational summertime block parties will not be remembered or ruminated. The neighbors daughter's Quinceanera last Spring will be carbon dated by the new neighbors as happening chronologically sometime around the founding of Tenochtitlan by the Aztecs. The harmless neighborhood vagabonds who you saw every morning while walking to the bus stop and who greeted you even if it were in exchange for a few coins and who helped you when you locked yourself out of your building or swapped change for your dollar when you realized that you didn't have exact fare; are gone for good. And are seldom thought of by the new people, if only in horror.
This is the reality of the new transfer of wealth.

And the beat goes on....

[pesto]

Nicely expressed. The generations change, sometimes even within the same family, and the grandchildren turn grandma's house into a pricey cafe. Heartbreak for the older generation but an opportunity for the young to create a new world, hopefully a lot better than the one they inherited.

[soup or man]

8th and Grand is officially under construction.