Wilshire| Development News

[Westsidelife]

Hello. This thread will be dedicated to the new projects and developments on Wilshire. This thread is currently in development. I will edit this post from time to time with all the new projects and developments throughout this week. Right now, I'm concentrating on getting all of the renderings on here. I will add all of the project names and their info later.


Barrington & Wilshire








Wilshire and Catalina






Wilshire Skyline






Wilshire and La Brea




Circa








Avalon Wilshire




Wilshire Center










Carlyle




Solair Wilshire




Wilshire/Vermont




5600 Wilshire








The Summit
















9900 Wilshire




5550 Wilshire




Wilshire Margot

[kidA]

Wow. I have driven up and down Barrington all my life. Gonna miss seeing that BIG FEET shoe store. Oh well. Time for some new blood.

[Westsidelife]

From SSP:

Originally Posted by fridayinla

All photos taken 2/3/2007. Sorry the lighting is aweful.

Western/Vermont Station



image hosted on flickr


Southeast corner of the retail space.
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Here is the retail space along Wilshire Blvd, just around the corner from the last photo. You can see the concrete poured for the new sidewalk.
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Looking through the construction fence into the center of the complex. Look at all that retail space!!
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Wilshire Solair

Most of the site is up to ground level and the rebar is visible high above the construction fence.
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[Westsidelife]

From SSP:

Originally Posted by fridayinla

Wilshire/Vermont Station project updates from this week. As sometimes happens, I was out today without my camera, but snapped some shots with my cell phone - the quality isn't great. There is some noticeable progress this week:

Southeast corner on Wilshire from last week:
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Same corner on Wilshire from today; construction fencing has been removed:
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Here's the red/purple line station "gateway" from the center of the complex. I love the orange!
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I know I've said this before, but this project has a MASSIVE amount of retail space, both along Wilshire Blvd and inside the "atrium" of the complex. I'm guessing about 20 retail spaces.

[saiholmes]

Edit

[JRinSoCal]

Any new updates on the construction progress of Wilshire/Vermont or Wilshire/Western (Solair)?

[saiholmes]

City to join foes of new FBI building
By Martha Groves, Times Staff Writer
April 13, 2007



The city of Los Angeles is preparing to join a coalition of veterans and Westside residents and business groups challenging the federal government's plan to tear down the Federal Building in Westwood and erect a new FBI headquarters on Wilshire Boulevard.

City Councilmen Jack Weiss and Bill Rosendahl said Thursday they planned to introduce a measure asking that the city attorney outline what steps the city would have to take to participate in an expected lawsuit.

The measure would also renew the city's request for a master plan for all federal properties in the area, including the Federal Building property and the Veterans Affairs campus.

The council probably will approve the measure in a few weeks.

No suit has been filed, but the Coalition for Veterans' Land, citing concerns about traffic and terrorism, said it expected to take its battle to federal court after the government filed its final environmental impact statement on the project.

That report is slated for release this month.

"We are going to fight and we are going to stop this federal proposal," Weiss said at a news conference at Wilshire and Veteran Avenue, where stiff winds whipped the multiple American flags on tall poles at the property. Weiss added that he strongly supported the FBI but had serious concerns about the potential for additional traffic in the already congested area, which is sliced by the 405 Freeway.

Rosendahl also addressed traffic fears, saying that "we cannot afford on the Westside any more gridlock."

"We have had it. No more expansion," he said.

Longtime Westside activist Laura Lake called the councilmen's action "historic," saying she could not "remember when the city stood with a coalition of community groups."

The General Services Administration has said that it reviewed 35 sites but determined that the Federal Building property best suited the FBI's needs. The GSA, which oversees land purchases and construction for federal government agencies, said it planned to tear down the existing 17-story building and build two towers that combined would have 732,000 square feet. That is 170,000 square feet larger than the current building, which is about 40 years old.

Rosendahl and Weiss said the FBI office should be downtown, close to city and county offices and law enforcement. According to coalition members, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's business development team offered sites downtown, but the GSA would not budge.

Rosendahl created a stir when he said Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger also supported the coalition's cause.

However, Aaron McLear, a spokesman for the governor, said later: "We've not taken a position on this."

[saiholmes]

FBI drops plan for new complex in Westwood
The agency acts in the face of strong opposition from residents, city officials, Sen. Feinstein.
By Martha Groves, Times Staff Writer
April 27, 2007

In a significant victory for Westside activists, the FBI revealed late Thursday that it has decided not to build a new Los Angeles headquarters at the Federal Building site on Wilshire Boulevard.

"In response to community concerns, the FBI has requested that the General Services Administration … search for alternative sites for the FBI's Los Angeles field office," the agency said in a brief statement. "The FBI has requested that the GSA not expand the Wilshire Boulevard site" for its office.

Community leaders and elected officials gave much of the credit for the FBI's change of heart to Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who had been urging the FBI and GSA to pursue locations other than the parcel that lies in a high-traffic area next to the San Diego Freeway.

Last week, Feinstein sent a letter to the GSA and FBI asking them to drop the project and explore alternatives.

"This is good news," Feinstein said in a statement released late Thursday. "There was an insurmountable amount of neighborhood opposition in a corridor of major traffic congestion." She added that she would be "very happy to help the FBI find a new location."

Councilman Jack Weiss, who represents the area, agreed. "There's no question that when the FBI gets a new headquarters in Los Angeles, that will also be a great victory for L.A.," he said. "We'll locate that building, I hope, in a more central location that makes more sense in terms of law enforcement, access to the rest of government and traffic."

Downtown Los Angeles, Weiss added, best meets that description, but he said he would be open to other suggestions.

Neighborhood opposition erupted three years ago when federal officials revealed plans for a massive FBI structure that would be built next to the existing Federal Building.

Community leaders and their elected representatives complained that the project would make the area a bull's-eye for terrorists and push more cars into an already congested area.

In addition to Feinstein and Weiss, Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles) and Councilman Bill Rosendahl had backed the community's effort. Two weeks ago, Weiss and Rosendahl announced that the city would join any lawsuit filed by community opponents to challenge the project.

This month, the GSA, which is responsible for managing such government construction projects, said it was close to a decision to raze the 17-story Federal Building and replace it with two towers that would become the Los Angeles headquarters for the FBI.

At the time, the GSA said the Westwood site, on Veteran Avenue, was "actually the best" of 35 sites the agency had studied.

The FBI has asked that the GSA expand its "delineated area" and search for other possible sites.

"We're thrilled," said Laura Lake, a founder of the Coalition for Veterans' Land, an organization of property owners, veterans and businesses that had mounted a high-profile campaign against the project.

But she added that "we're not done with the GSA. We still have the issue … of whose land this is."

The coalition recently announced that after an exhaustive search of records, it had concluded that the Federal Building site was still part of the West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs campus and thus should be used for veterans services.

Lake said the FBI's decision showed "the importance of unity and the power of the coalition that we've put together."

Feinstein has also pushed the government to prepare a master plan for the federal properties in the area, including the West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs campus, the Federal Building and an Army Reserve site just south of Wilshire.

"We intend to keep [the coalition] going," Lake said, "until we return the land to veterans services and get a master plan. We're not done."

[klamedia]

Eventhough I'm usually against NIMBYism, let them build dowtown.

[FROM LOS ANGELES]

This is a great oppurtunity for downtown LA to show 'em who's boss. If major companies see that an institution such as the FBI is willing and does relocate downtown, they will see it as more desirable.
As for location, the Civic Center will be ideal. If not in the Civic Center, that 8th and Figueroa corner is really a great choice, seeing how ugly that parcel of land is screaming for development, and how it kills the inmediate surrounding areas.

[Fern~Fern*]

Originally Posted by klamedia

Eventhough I'm usually against NIMBYism, let them build dowtown.

What are the chances that the FBI would erect a new tower Downtown?

[FROM LOS ANGELES]

Depends how many sites they have to choose from.

[LAsam]

I can confirm that the lot which Wilshire and Barrington is to be built on has had the old building FINALLY demolished. Bring on the beauty!

[vicecityguy]

Thomas P Cox has an updated rendering on the Desmond residential project to include a residential "tower" behind the former department store.

[godblessbotox]

damn... thats a complex facade.

[Fern~Fern*]

I'm digging the new proposal very much. It has a nice retro but modern feel to it. This would definitely blend in nicely with the Dept store and the surrounding hood nicely.

[klamedia]

The stores across the street from the new Wilshire/Vermont complex are all boarded up!

[JRinSoCal]

Originally Posted by klamedia

The stores across the street from the new Wilshire/Vermont complex are all boarded up!

Does that mean we should be seeing this beauty rise pretty soon?

[klamedia]

WHat a change! From bacon wrapped sausages frying on the corner to that!

[Westsidelife]

From SSP:

Originally Posted by fridayinla

These photos were taken on Sunday, May 20, 2007:

Wilshire/Vermont Station
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Tiled Resident Entrance along Wilshire Blvd
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Equitable City Center
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Wilshire Solair
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Mercury retail shops along Wilshire Blvd
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