Buzz:
Beyond the numbers and statistics, there’s a palpable excitement about the resurgence of Los Angeles’ Downtown. In the 1920s and 1930s, Downtown was the nexus of Southern California’s arts and entertainment scene with a score of legitimate playhouses and “movie palaces” offering the best and biggest names in vaudeville, legitimate theater and motion pictures.
Now the glory and grandeur that once was Downtown L.A. is returning. In the last five years, dozens of vintage high-rise office buildings and factories have been converted to modern loft residential spaces. More than 20 new restaurants and lounges have opened in the last two years.
The pace of redevelopment will only accelerate with three massive projects: The Grand Avenue Project, L.A. Live and South Park. The latter two are well underway.
L.A. Live is a 5.6 million-square-foot, 27-acre, $4.2 billion sports and entertainment complex adjacent to the Staples Center, the L.A. Convention Center and the new state-of-the-art NOKIA Theatre. Designed to host more than 150 events each year, the new 7,100–seat facility will boast the city’s largest stage and feature more than 235,00 square feet of flexible hospitality areas and function spaces. The adjacent one-acre NOKIA Plaza will be available for outdoor functions.
South and east of L.A. Live, South Park is a new residential neighborhood comprised of a dozen sparkling new steel-and-glass high rises that will eventually include 3,500 residential units as well as numerous retail businesses and restaurants. A milestone was passed recently when a new Ralph’s supermarket opened July 19, 2007 – the first new grocery store in Downtown L.A. in 50 years.
The $2 billion+ Grand Avenue L.A., which will link the Music Center on Bunker Hill with the Civic Center below, will include 2,600 residential units and transform the existing “County Mall” into a state-of-the-art, pedestrian-friendly 16-acre urban park and entertainment-retail center.
Together, these three signature projects, along with many others, constitute the largest urban redevelopment program in the United States. Already the cultural hub of the West Coast’s largest metropolis -- boasting such international renowned cultural institutions and landmarks including the Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels -- the “new” Downtown Los Angeles is at last poised once again to be a world-class mecca of arts, entertainment and culture. And the perfect setting, we might add, for a world-class film festival.
