L.A. Live

[JDRCRASH 53]

When most people think of Downtown Los Angeles, they think of a homeless, high crime dominant area of the County that has failed to be the heart of the 130 small neighborhoods that live around it.  But as most Southern California residents know, something extraordinary is commencing across Chick Hearn CT. from the Staples Center, and virtually all of Downtown L.A.  

And as we speak, word is slowly making its way towards the Theater District in New York City, The Las Vegas Strip, and the Ginza District in Tokyo.

A $2.5 Billion dollar entertainment complex is being developed by Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), in an effort to create a sports and entertainment district that

Dubbed Times Square West, LA Live will be the cornerstone of a greater attempt to transform Downtown into a 24 hour city that never sleeps.

The first phase of individual projects in this historic undertaking are Nokia Plaza, featuring a 40,000 sq ft open-air plaza being the central place of L.A. Live, as well as the 7,000 seat Nokia Theater, hosting concerts and events like the Latin Grammy's.  

The phase will also include Club Nokia, a 2,400 seat standalone venue for music acts, bands and cultural shows.

Later phases will include restaurants, retail, movie theaters, including Neon Billboards similar to those in Times Square.

And finally... yesterday, on June 1st, 2007, construction began on the center of it all.

A $900 Million 54-story Convention Center Headquarters Hotel, which will feature one of the largest ballrooms in the city, will be the real crown jewel of L.A. Live.

The Tower will include a 124 room Ritz Carlton, a 876 room Marriot Marquis, and 224 luxury condominiums on the upper floors(known as "The Resdences at the Ritz Carlton Los Angeles"

The whole complex is expected to be completed by 2010, while similar projects are soon to begin all around the South Park area, at Bunker Hill, even in Universal City.

And thats just the beginning...

In all, by 2020, Downtown will soon have almost 100 new skyscrapers in the city, bringing Los Angeles into a building boom on a scale that rivals Las Vegas' and Miami's.

In fact, developers and economists say we maybe entering one of the greatest high-rise construction eras since the Roaring 20's in New York City.

Here are a few of links to the site:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LA_Live

http://www.syska.com/Media/projects/lalive.html

http://www.aegworldwide.com/04_future/losangeles.html

[JDRCRASH 53]

So what does Simtropolis think about this comment?(by the way...criticism welcome!)

[FavreKev04 13]

Finally that city started building up. For years the city kept spreading wider and wider. Making traffic bad, maybe the will finally have allot of skyscrapers. I'm also wondering if there ever going to get a football team. It is a very big city, I'm surprised they haven't gotten one already.

[ssfsx17 0]

Hopefully, whatever that is built will be resistant to big earthquakes. It's good to see that people are finally coming to their senses and learning that California can only take so much sprawl.

[JDRCRASH 53]

Technology has improved alot since the late 80's when Los Angeles was building up. In fact its safer to be in a modern L.A. high-rise during an earthquake than a single every day home! Last year, we actually took down that ordinance that required all downtown skyscrapers over 30 stories to have a helipad on the rooftops of them. Hence the City House and Olympic's unique design.

[writingliberty 0]

A lot of L.A.'s lack of skyscrapers was geology - the bedrock is unusually deep in most of the L.A. area, which made driving piles down to the bedrock prohibitively expensive. But now that the area is so built out (and gas and land prices both skyrocketing along with traffic), the economics of building the skyscrapers may finally be favorable....

[JDRCRASH 53]

Since 1999, when the City Council passed an ordinance allowing developers to renovate existing buildings into condos and lofts, that particular development is a booming business as well in Los Angeles.

[masssc4 3]

i can't get over the fact of almost 100 new scrapers

[JDRCRASH 53]

^  ^  ^

Yup, its true

It is really 87, but with even more parcels selling at a record rate, 100 sounds more appropriate.

[JDRCRASH 53]

Oh, I forget to mention that this site owns two live webcams of the progress of L.A. Live.
Its fun to watch!  Check it out!

http://clarkconstruction.oxblue.com/lalive/

[jmjselect 0]

IMO L.A. will never be a true city UNTIL IT GETS A DANG FOOTBALL TEAM. lol jk but really L.A. needs a FREAKING FOOTBALL TEAM ALREADY!!!!!!

but yeah L.A. does need to build up, my city(atlanta) puts L.A. to shame, and we're not all that impressive compared to the likes of NYC or Chicago or....

[Cjah 15]

LA has been the jewel of the West for ages....Population capital of the West.....Heart of Western sea trade....

but I agree the last 30 years have been nothing too magical....

I think these new 80 skyscrapers will help this city be known the world over as the Jewel of Western America...

because not only has LA done much for the west so has CA,,,,,

[JDRCRASH 53]

For a while, San Francisco was the capital of the west, but soon after World War II, that began to change. If it was an independant country, California would have the 10th largest economy in the world. It was 9th, but along came China.

[hawkpride147 1]

Originally posted by: jmjselect IMO L.A. will never be a true city UNTIL IT GETS A DANG FOOTBALL TEAM. lol jk but really L.A. needs a FREAKING FOOTBALL TEAM ALREADY!!!!!!

but yeah L.A. does need to build up, my city(atlanta) puts L.A. to shame, and we're not all that impressive compared to the likes of NYC or Chicago or....quote>

they have had 2 and both teams decided to move away...i wouldnt put another team there if i was an owner

[K1A 0]

Originally posted by: hawkpride147

Originally posted by: jmjselect IMO L.A. will never be a true city UNTIL IT GETS A DANG FOOTBALL TEAM. lol jk but really L.A. needs a FREAKING FOOTBALL TEAM ALREADY!!!!!!

but yeah L.A. does need to build up, my city(atlanta) puts L.A. to shame, and we're not all that impressive compared to the likes of NYC or Chicago or....quote>

they have had 2 and both teams decided to move away...i wouldnt put another team there if i was an ownerquote>

actually, there were three, the rams (moved to St. Louis), The Raiders (went back to Oakland), and the Chargers (went to San Diego)

[SpecialEddie 3]

Hehe. LA has two NBA teams. Maybe we should trade one of them (ahem--Clippers) for a football team. 

I'm glad that LA is constructing more skyscrapers, but people aren't considering that Southern California lives in earthquake-country, so building tall high-rises can be costly and only until recently (past couple of decades) have we been able to build skyscrapers at all.

[JDRCRASH 53]

^ ^ ^

Technology has advanced significantly since the Northridge earthquake.

Its the cost of utilizing that technology thats the problem.

[SpecialEddie 3]

Originally posted by: JDRCRASH ^ ^ ^

Technology has advanced significantly since the Northridge earthquake.

Its the cost of utilizing that technology thats the problem.quote>

 

Exactly. So everyone should stop complaining [Content] about LA not having 'scrapers.

[JDRCRASH 53]

Hm, it looks like patrick added the whole project to GoogleEarth!

I already downloaded it, and It looks awesome, check it out guys!