Unbuilt Skyscrapers of Los Angeles

[soup or man]

Metropolis

[Kenny]

Hmm, ah. For the sense of density, that's all. They don't wow me.

[Thundergod]

I hope they are building Metropolis or something on the great parking lot. That space is so ugly and it is give away space

[losangelino]

This article has to do with the 20 story FIDM tower. It seems to still underway but the bureaucrats are battling over signage:

==============

Perry, Huizar Clash Over South Park Sign Plan

Flap Involves Project Set to Change Districts Next Week

Posted: Wednesday, June 20, 2012 5:42 pm | Updated: 10:36 am, Thu Jun 21, 2012.

by Ryan Vaillancourt, Staff Writer | 0 comments

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES - With new City Council boundaries about to take effect, Ninth District Councilwoman Jan Perry is trying to secure approval for a key project that, come July 1, will no longer be in her territory. However, 14th District Councilman José Huizar, whose expanded district will soon hold the same project, is standing in her way.

Perry today invoked a rare legislative maneuver to expedite a council vote on proposed special signage rights for properties within a certain segment of South Park, including a 21-story tower planned by the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising. Her move to speed the approval of the plan came after a Tuesday hearing of the Planning and Land Use Committee at which Huizar successfully pushed to delay consideration of the proposed sign district. Huizar told the panel that he needs more time to study the issue.

The city Planning Commission unanimously approved the district, which would extend special sign regulations to properties bounded by Flower, Figueroa and Ninth streets and Olympic Boulevard, in 2009. So did the Planning and Land Use Committee. Huizar, who was a member of PLUM in 2009, voted for the district at the time.

The proposed district never went to the council for a final vote, however, because the city was mired in separate litigation related to sign policy. The district was shelved until the lawsuit was resolved.

The city won that case, and the proposed sign district went back to PLUM on Tuesday. That’s when Huizar asked to delay the vote.

Perry’s move could potentially work around the delay. The motion she filed today will trigger a council vote on Tuesday, June 26, on whether to take up the signage plan. If eight members of the 15-person council agree, the proposal can then be considered for final approval.

Huizar, whose district will encompass nearly all of Downtown come July 1 if the new redistricting plan is formalized by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, said he needs more time to study the special sign rules.

“A lot has changed in Downtown in three years,” said Huizar spokesman Rick Coca, in a statement. “We just want to be sure that this is still the direction we should be going in at this point. As council offices change for Downtown, we want the opportunity to fully vet this proposal and see if it makes sense going forward. It very well might, we just want the opportunity to look at it more closely.”

Backers of the proposed sign district, including a Perry staffer, offered to answer any questions at the Tuesday hearing. None were posed. The committee instead honored Huizar’s request and voted to continue the item until its next meeting, on July 31.

Perry said her move to rush the vote stems from a desire to finish a project she has worked on for eight years and to eliminate any chance of Huizar asking for new conditions before supporting the plan.

“It makes a difference when you change elected officials because incoming elected officials may have a totally different perspective,” she said. “He may want something different or new requirements. It changes the whole scenario.”

Perry called Huizar’s decision to delay a vote “business hostile” because it further postpones consideration of a plan that’s been pending for more than three years.

Since then, the affected property owners, including FIDM and the developers of housing complexes 717 Olympic and Apex, have already taken down 18,573 square feet of permitted signage, according to city records. The new sign district would allow a total of 16,761 square feet of signage, representing a net reduction of signs in the area.

Video Imagery

The proposed sign district has taken on one key wrinkle since it gained tentative approval in 2009, when a “digital animation” sign was OK’d for a proposed FIDM development.

The fashion school plans to build a 21-story tower with classrooms and offices on the first six levels and student housing above. Designs call for a 429-square-foot digital sign that would be embedded in the skin of the building. The sign would be permitted to show fashion videos and display student work.

Since approving the sign in 2009, however, the Planning Department has changed its position on video displays. The city now prohibits so-called “unrestricted animation” on digital signs.

Going forward, the council will have the option to approve the original sign district proposal — keeping the animated display rights — or a version of the plan that would only allow static images that change no more frequently than every eight seconds, according to the City Attorney’s office.

Amy Forbes, the school’s attorney, described the proposed video display as “integrating the educational mission into the building.”

Perry said she would ask the council to support the video display for the FIDM project — that is, if her motion to even consider the proposal is approved on Tuesday.

The conflict between Perry and Huizar is the latest in a string of redistricting related flaps that have had the two officials at odds for months. Jostling for control over development projects is also a common ritual during times of political transition, said Fernando Guerra, director of the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University.

“It’s not unusual and they both are right,” Guerra said. “If I’m Jan Perry I want to finish what I started. If I’m José Huizar, and this is going to be my district for likely the next six years, I want to make sure it conforms to my vision of what should be occurring.”

Contact Ryan Vaillancourt at ryan@downtownnews.com.

[PinkFloyd]

I'm amusing this is also a dead proposal, since the site is for sale.

G-8 Tower (8th & Garland Ave.)


For info here: http://www.loopnet.com/Listing/17351...os-Angeles-CA/

[Kenny]

I really like this proposition (8th and Figueroa)

Any remote chance that it may see the light of day sometime in the future?

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

interestingly enough, i was thinking of this building last night. weird, maybe its a cosmic sign lol

[Kenny]

Originally Posted by LosAngelesSportsFan

interestingly enough, i was thinking of this building last night. weird, maybe its a cosmic sign lol

Very weird, because it has been sitting here for months and I came back to it last night too, I don't know why.

[soup or man]

Honestly, I don't think that was a real proposal.

[Kenny]

Really? I still like it.

[blackcat23]

Always thought that would have been a very attractive building.

Hopefully something goes in there in the next couple of years. That's a very large parking lot; you could fit two towers with a similar footprint to the building in that pseudo-proposal.

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

Originally Posted by blackcat23

Always thought that would have been a very attractive building.

Hopefully something goes in there in the next couple of years. That's a very large parking lot; you could fit two towers with a similar footprint to the building in that pseudo-proposal.

Honestly, i wish that the two parking garages book-ending the lot on flower were leveled.

If that were to happen, you would have one HUGE lot bounded by Flower, Figueroa, 8th and almost 7th where you can fit 5 - 7 towers with no problem at all.

I would love it if 5 or 6 different modern style 40 - 70 story towers with a continuous street wall were built. You could have 2 hotels, 1 office tower, 2 residential towers catering to middle income families and 1 luxory residential tower. if only i had 2 billion in spare change lying around

[pesto]

Sounds like a good way to turn 3 billion into 1 billion. lol.

http://www.citycenter.com/

I do like the concept of getting rid of the parking lots though.

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

Originally Posted by pesto

Sounds like a good way to turn 3 billion into 1 billion. lol.

http://www.citycenter.com/

I do like the concept of getting rid of the parking lots though.

lol i was thinking something similar to city center but much more street oriented and less mall like.

[jess2012rocha]

WhAt about 9th and Figueroa? Back in the early 90's there was talks about a 90 story tower and would've be like 1400 ft tall whitch would've been tallest in west coast and had a similar look like one of the "world trade center" twin towers. Anybody have any rendering?

[soup or man]

Originally Posted by jess2012rocha

WhAt about 9th and Figueroa? Back in the early 90's there was talks about a 90 story tower and would've be like 1400 ft tall whitch would've been tallest in west coast and had a similar look like one of the "world trade center" twin towers. Anybody have any rendering?

image hosted on flickr


But Apex (Concerto) is on the site.

[soup or man]

I found a bunch of stuff I've never seen before.

A proposal by Helmut Jahn for 8th and Figueroa.

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...85140040_n.jpg

Rapid Transit District HQ

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...33550543_n.png

A 50 story church designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...69713689_n.jpg

The Tower of Civilization

http://www.kcet.org/updaily/socal_fo...ion%20copy.jpg

The Santa Monica Causeway

http://s3.amazonaws.com/production.c...jpg?1358365147

The Monument to Democracy (this would've been at the Port of Los Angeles)


A hotel off the coast of Santa Monica

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3Jqx-O4n-6.../CDA056web.jpg

Frank Lloyd Wright's idea for the Civic Center

http://strangeline.net/wp-content/up...-2-640x236.jpg


http://www.visualnews.com/wp-content...Angeles_04.png

Hollywood and Vine

http://www.visualnews.com/wp-content...Angeles_11.png

Civic Center Masterplan from 1940

http://i699.photobucket.com/albums/v...IT-BUI-581.jpg

Whatever all this is.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...L._SL1500_.jpg

[tanzirian]

Thanks for collecting these...they are very interesting to look at...though I'm not crazy about any of the designs in particular. The Rapid Transit District HQ looks like a lesser version of Gehry's unbuilt proposal for the NY Times Tower...the latter being a building that I would love to see realized in LA...or anywhere else for that matter. Interesting also to see the church designed by Wright...if I recall correctly, earlier in his career he didn't like highrises...but by the end of it he was coming up with mile-high skyscrapers and 50-storey churches. I'm sure if his designs were realized properly...even that blocky civic center...they would look great, as his creations invariably did.

[soup or man]

http://www.visualnews.com/wp-content...Angeles_05.png

LA Freeway Masterplan 1958

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...31725213_n.jpg

A lake in downtown.


The Ritz Hotel in the Hollywood Hills

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...98835450_n.jpg

[LAX 777]

Whatever all this is.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...L._SL1500_.jpg[/QUOTE]


I remember this one! I believe this was one of the losing proposals for Calirfornia Center. The name was later changed to California Plaza. This one had different architects taking on each building. The white buildings in the foreground, with the red windows and the sloped side, were to be by Ricardo Legorreta from Mexico. I don't remember the other architects. I liked this one very much.