Orange Line Extension to Break Ground Next Month

The Metro Orange Line busway that connects the North Hollywood Red Line station in the East to the Warner Center in the West, will soon extend northward from the Canoga station and will terminate at the Chatsworth Amtrak station - the site of last year's tragic derailing. The 4-mile dedicated busline will add 3 stations to the line, at Sherman Way, Roscoe Blvd, and Nordhoff St, before the terminus. The short extension endured a long acceptance process, beginning with a study in 2003 and finalizing in January of this year with the completed EIR. The main goal of the project is to improve north-south traffic conditions in the sprawling Valley. Completion is scheduled for 2013.

The original 14-station Orange Line opened in 2005 to both local and worldwide acclaim, as one of the first North American examples of a successful dedicated "busline." The busway, which was chosen as the locally preferred alternative in the scoping process, utilizes long articulated buses on a reserved transitway. This system, which was largely developed in the 1970s in transit-conscious Curitiba, Brazil, is low-cost and high-efficiency. Like a light-rail, the buses run on a dedicated path, eliminating both the danger of collision and the impediment of traffic lights. The line seems to be the perfect fit for the Valley, a region that is still relatively low-density, but suffers from strangulating congestion.

The extension however, has been met with much local condemnation, not for construction inconveniences or noise, but for the displacement of area businesses. LACMTA owns the path that will be tapped for the line, and has been leasing out the properties along this right-of-way for 50 years. The county transit agency has retained all the rights-of-way of LA's original Pacific Electric redcar system since its closure in 1961. Long leased out to private businesses at cut-rate prices, these transit corridors have proved extremely convenient in Metro's avid rebuilding of transit lines beginning in the 1990s. But despite complaints from local businesses about government intervention in an already sagging regional economy, local officials will continue to laud the project as a universally beneficial and a much-needed improvement to area mobility. You can make fun of the Valley all you want, but in a city infamous for car dependence, the Orange Line is hurtling into the 21st century.

NoHo: What Recession?

When visiting North Hollywood these days, one is unavoidably greeted by a thicket of construction cranes and high-rise steel skeletons. The scale of development here seems to have actually increased in the past couple of years, almost resembling its namesake brother to the south in the early 2000s. But if you look closely at the street banners, you’ll notice that this neighborhood has been designated as the NoHo Arts District. And the City of LA has done a fairly good job at marketing it as such and attracting small art galleries, stage theaters, and even bigwig entertainment offices like Disney Interactive Media and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. But of course, with the establishment of an arts community, comes the inevitable influx of trendy, market-rate condos.

The most obvious of these newcomers is NOHO14, the massive residential tower located across the street from the Metro station. Having opened in October 2008, this upscale loft complex is having difficulty filling units however, with occupancy at just 20%. Opposite the station lies NoHo Commons, a large mixed-use village with medium-density housing in back and retail along Lankershim Blvd (including a spin-off of the famed Hollywood wing joint Big Wang’s). The latest and boldest however is phase III of NoHo Commons, a freestanding structure located one block further south on Lankershim. Essentially in the backyard of the Academy of Television, what was a patch of dirt in September is now an attractively imposing tower. NoHo may be experiencing a real estate renaissance, but the scale and ambition of the Metro mixed-use office/hotel/retail/residential development above the Red Line subway station, to be developed by Lowe Enterprises, is absolutely insane. Best of luck to ‘em.

The majority of this new construction was spurred by the arrival of the Metro Red Line subway in 2000. But CRA/LA, the non-profit community redevelopment organization, designated North Hollywood as an immediate intervention zone because of overcrowding and slum conditions in 1979! Today, slum is the last word that comes to mind while strolling down Lankershim Blvd, which is lined with cute restaurants, high-rise condos, and shiny office buildings. The neighborhood has maintained its uniqueness over the years, partly because it is somewhat off-the-map and not easily discoverable. New construction seems to be taking place exclusively on vacant lots, rather than replacing existing lower-density housing, which continues to exist outside of the commercial core. The resulting mixture of residential and commercial uses is interesting and dynamic. Despite a seemingly reckless building boom, the area is ripe for new development, especially in the moderate density range. Who knows – maybe NoHo will be the next valley neighborhood to join the high-rent ranks of Studio City and Sherman Oaks.