Main Street Retail About to Fill the Gaps
Dave Bullock
[Flickr]
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — As we start to get more and more opening up Downtown it's important to fill in the dead zones that separate pockets of activity. Retail and nightlife encourage street traffic and reduce the perceived distance between destinations.
A great example of this is on Main street as you compare the blocks to the north and south of 5th street. To the north you have Blossom, galleries and the Metropolis book store. To the south... Well, you've got nothing. That's changing, though.
eecue writes this about the retail spaces currently going in on Main:
I was walking around shooting some photos earlier this week and I noticed that both glass and roll-up doors have been installed on the recently built retails spaces adjacent to the turquoise parking structure on Main street between 5th and 6th. The owner was there and I asked him if he knew what was moving in. He said that several galleries were interested, but that he had also been contacted by Famima!!, and they were interested in putting in another store.
More after the jump, including a new color scheme and a redone mural...
The owner said it would be expensive for a food service establishment to move in because they would have to run water and sewer pipes which are currently capped off in the rear of the units. He also mentioned that the entire structure is about to be repainted with a more pleasing and modern color scheme and that the horrendously ugly mural on the side will be covered up and a new mural will be painted. He said that they had been talking with Shepard Fairey, and he may do the new mural, which would be really cool.
Sounds like great stuff for a block that desperately needs a positive presence.
The pair of photos Dave took are over on his site.
standarddtla
DragoCentro
DowntownTonys
Over in the South Park neighborhood, I've noticed lots of space has been created at street level in the new buildings going up -- Met Lofts, all those South developments. This is different compared to some of the original developments which went up in South Park. More often, these projects (e.g. Grand Lofts) didn't set aside any space at street level for retail.
Once enough of these new buildings in South Park open and a critical mass of residents move in, hopefully retail will follow them. The spaces allotted for this purpose are certainly attractive. The pioneer is the Starbucks at Hope & 11th. The other night, I saw the first "Leased" sign go up in the Met Lofts building on Flower across from the Liberty Grill.