The Grove, still our city center

In an eye-catching display combining social media, outdoor advertising, and pedestrian involvement, the Canada Tourism Bureau has set up shop in vacant storefronts in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, to show a new generation of prospective American travellers all the wonders of our northern neighbor, via live Twitter and Facebook updates from actual visitors. The choice of our three largest cities is quite obvious, but their locations therein less so. They would have to choose locations that not only feature the most pedestrian traffic, but the ones that are most high-profile, in order to garner wider attention, like from the media. So Times Square for obvious reasons in New York, and Chicago's Michigan Ave is that city's main ritzy shopping thoroughfare.

And for LA? None other than the Grove - that much-debated yet much-loved outdoor mall cum public place that is still a huge metric of our urban identity, eight years after its completion. The Canadian bureau's decisioin to invest there poses a great reminder that the Grove is the sort of place we Angelenos like to spend our time and our money, especially given the recent high-profile openings of pseudo-urban mega-places like LA Live and the Hollywood W hotel TOD. The Grove is a civic space as much as it is a shopping mall - we go there to people-watch, to walk our dogs, to work on our laptops, and to grab a bite to eat. But it is a privately built and privately maintained civic space - devoid of the riff-raff we might find at actual public places, and unfortunately devoid of much of the character as well.

When Caruso Affiliated proposed the project early last decade, there were many questions - what would happen to the farmer's market? (it is flourishing), do people actually want to live above shopping centers? (largely no), and what's next? Well, to date the Grove has easily been Caruso's greatest success, with the Americana of Glendale a fairly big disappointment. And the formerly drab Santa Monica Place will reopen this Summer to resemble more closely its crowded but breezy neighbor, the 3rd St. Promenade, another popular urban space in the hands of national chain stores. So if it takes profit-minded developers to build our city's places, and if we are content paying for these places ourselves, through spending rather than taxes, then I see no problem with our urban spaces looking or feeling different from the more traditional ones in older cities. So it goes - what's good enough for Canada is good enough for us.

Council Passes Slew of Westside Projects on Eve of Weiss' Departure

Just weeks before City Councilman Jack Weiss' departure on June 30, a number of high-profile projects have been presented to the council for review. Jack Weiss, who lost his recent bid for city attorney to Carmen Trutanich, presides over the 5th district - one of the wealthiest in LA. Among those projects already passed by the council are a 39-story tower at Westfield's Century City shopping mall and a controversial residential tower on La Brea Ave. Tomorrow will see whether the Museum of Tolerance will get its much-anticipated expansion. The flurry of requests comes in anticipation of Councilman-elect Paul Koretz' reputation for anti-development.

One project however, will not make it out so easy. Koretz has asked the council to delay their vote on a 14-story Burton Way condo proposal. The project, which asks for exemption from the existing 45-foot height limit, is staunchly opposed by the neighboring Four Seasons hotel in Beverly Hills. Jack Weiss on the other hand, has built his reputation as a development-friendly Councilman, and sits on the council's Planning and Land Use Management Committee. Having made numerous area developer friends, Weiss' run for city attorney relied on financial support from these relationships. Interest groups from Rick Caruso to Westfield were represented in his losing bid.

Two other projects were also recently approved on Burton Way - on the same premium stretch of land between the Beverly Center and the Beverly Hills city limits. Incidentally, the apartment project at 8500 Burton Way is an 88-unit Caruso development. The other developer attempted to woo the council with a supplementary affordable housing building nearby targeted toward workers at Cedars Sinai, but the city shot down that idea as a "bribed" liability. This town may never find a feasible solution for affordable housing. Oh well, Caruso claims his building will house a Trader Joe's.

Playa Vista Plows Forward

An updated version of the EIR (Environmental Impact Report) for phase II of the Westside master-planned community Playa Vista was released last week, local newspaper the Argonaut reported. The report, which was rejected by a California appeals court in 2007 for not conforming to environmental investigation standards set forth by the CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act), will be circulated amongst local homeowners, environmental groups, and community organizations for discussion. The Westchester-Playa del Rey Neighborhood Council has already publicly expressed support for the project. Opponents of the plan cited methane gas and water shortages as issues that were poorly investigated in the original EIR, which they say, having been written in 2004, is no longer applicable.

Playa Vista is an enormously controversial master-planned community located on more than 1000 acres in the Ballona wetlands between the LMU campus and Marina del Rey. Despite having been designed with progressive intentions (bike paths, green space, housing-above-retail, walkability), much of the opposition to the development comes from the fact that it is built on some of the sole remaining natural wetlands in the city. The landscape is sensitive here, and is home to several native species of birds and shrubs. The already built portion of the development which sits between imposing natural bluffs and the wide drainage channel Ballona Creek, has led many to complain about increased traffic and the eyesore cookie-cutter architecture.

Phase II, dubbed 'the Village,' will host 150,000 sf of retail and 175,000 sf of office space, in addition to new housing. While this will most likely put more traffic on surrounding streets and threaten the local water supply, Playa Vista is a green-minded development that has so far complied with community demands, and its New Urbanist vision will not be complete without the grocery store, office space, and other added amenities. Those who have already moved into the community did so with the expectation that the plan would eventually be complete - and they are interested in walking to the grocery store and biking to the beach. In the face of a dreadful housing shortage citywide, the developers have complied with the low-income minimum, and are committed to spending $125 million in traffic mitigation. Additionally, they have set aside about 40% of the parkspace as "passive," meaning minimal intervention.

Whatever happens, the dust will start to settle in a few years and it won't look like such an awkward tract development plopped down in the middle of the city. Big-scale drop-ins are one of the only ways to get anything built in this town, wetlands or not. But with Caruso Affiliated as the retail designer/developer, let's just hope we don't get 'The Grove' transplanted on the Westside.