L .A. Live is one of Southern California’s most ambitious new urbanism
projects.
floors of the hotel. The hotel and condominiums will create two
million sf of commercial and residential space on the 2.5-acre
site, which is part of the overall 27-acre L.A. Live development,
which is adjacent to the Staples Center and the Los Angeles
Convention Center.
Last year, MacFarlane Partners agreed to become a substantial investor in the $900-million hotel/condominium tower, with the San
Francisco-based firm also providing investment oversight for the
project. Wachovia is the initial founding partner for the overall $2.5-
billion, four-million-sf L.A. Live development.
The value of those urban amenities slated for L.A. Live and the
rest of Downtown LA cannot be understated, Leiweke notes. “Once
we’ve created the amenities, the nightlife and the footfall will follow,“
he says. “In LA, nearly 40 to 50 new restaurants will open up in the
next 12 months, and grocery stories, cleaners, Starbucks, bagel joints
a nd dog parks are opening as well.”
Carol Schatz, president and CEO of both the Downtown Center
B usiness Improvement District and the Central City Association, rec alls when things started improving in Downtown in 1999. “It began
because we laid the groundwork,” she says.
Staples opened in October 1999, and just two months later the
L os Angeles City Council made it easier for developers to convert
o ld office building to housing with an adaptive reuse ordinance. At
t hat time, there were 11,600 units within Downtown LA’s freeway
circle, “which for a city of this size is pathetic,” Schatz says.
As of the second quarter of this year, there are 24,450 units within
that geographic region, according to Schatz. “We’ve added about
13,000 units of housing,” she says. “The population we now estimate
to be living Downtown is about 37,000, which is up from about
15,000 in 1999.”
Currently under construction are 5,200 units of housing, making
for a total of 30,000 units that will rise Downtown over the next few
years, she says. “That will turn this from a 9-to- 5 commuter Downtown where people only work to one where they work, play and live.
It’s transformative.”
