Catching Up With... Industrial Land Use

By Eric Richardson
Published: Sunday, December 28, 2008, at 03:41PM

Eric Richardson [Flickr]

Looking east at the Los Angeles River and the Arts District from the under-construction Ritz Carlton tower at L.A. Live in December.

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — As we go through the last few days of 2008, we thought it useful to take a look at some of the important Downtown projects working their way through the system.

The first issue to rear its head Downtown in 2008 was that of Industrial Land Use, as the Planning Department and Community Redevelopment Agency announced an agreement that, among other things, limited residential conversions on industrially-zoned land south of the Arts District. Proponents of the plan argued that the city needed the land to attract industrial jobs, particularly in green technology. Detractors claimed that the land was unsuitable for large industry due to small lot sizes and a cramped street grid.

Latest Status: Though no large-scale changes have taken place recently, City Council did just approve a boundary change for the Arts District, opening a small swath of new area to live-work conversions.

2008 Accomplishments: The battle started quickly in the new year, and set the Planning Department, CRA and the Mayor's Office against City Councilmembers and Downtown stakeholders. On January 1, blogdowntown previewed upcoming meetings to announce the plan. The January 3 preview brought more questions than answers about the plan.

An early skirmish was fought over approvals for AMP Lofts, a conversion that would change an auto parts warehouse into 180 lofts. The Planning Commission had denied the proposal in late December, but Council intervened just days after the land use presentation, granting developer David Seewack's appeal of the decision.

In March, the plan went to Council's Planning and Land Use Management committee, where an all-star cast of business and development representatives were on hand to speak in opposition to the Planning / CRA rules.

One outcome of that March meeting was the change in Arts District boundary. The change, which extended the district's boundaries south just below 7th, was finally passed by Council just this month.

After that? Not much happened.

What's Next: No real resolution will come to this stand-off until the Central City North community plan is re-done.

Planning chief Gail Goldberg has been very critical of the city's existing plans -- thin documents that gave little in the way of specific guidelines for development. Under her watch the city has started a major project to redo the plans, with work currently being done on nine of the thirty-five plans citywide. Unfortunately, Central City North is not one of those plans.

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This story belongs to the following topics:

Topic:
Industrial Land Use Policy

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Comments

JDRCRASH writes:

Alot of tearing down of those structures is gonna need to happen if that area is to become more residential, regardless if there are enough Parking Lots to infill.

# on Dec.28.2008 AT 05:12 PM

Eric Richardson writes:

Actually, most of the residential conversions that have or likely would take place would make use of the character of the existing structures. That's the appeal of the neighborhoods for residents / developers.

# on Dec.28.2008 AT 06:47 PM

Norbie 7 writes:

If one takes a Greyhound bus to any major city in America, one will be in for no bigger surprise than the environs which they'll experience when they step off their bus in downtown L.A. - over a mile distant from the financial district or from Union Station. There is something wrong with this situation.

Really, the LAPD motor pool under construction on Main Street ought to have been designed to include a bus station. That would have been perfect. Anyone familiar with the existing setup on East 7th Street would know what I mean.

# on Dec.28.2008 AT 08:01 PM

Rich Alossi writes:

Norbie: Or even better, they should reuse their former location at 6th and Los Angeles. That place is a dump that could use some love. Even better, it's close to the subway, Jewelry District, Financial District, Historic Core...

# on Dec.28.2008 AT 11:03 PM

Eric Richardson writes:

We wrote a little bit about that facility last August:

http://blogdowntown.com/2007/08/2809-welcome-to-los-angeles

# on Dec.29.2008 AT 06:51 AM

Dando Guerra writes:

The Central City North Plan IS one of the community plans that are being updated-- it just started this summer, I believe. Gail Goldberg moved it to the top of the list to placate councilmembers who were pissed that the city had begun following its own Council-adopted policies.

# on Dec.29.2008 AT 10:06 AM

Eric Richardson writes:

Dando: I believe you may be confusing the Central City and Central City North plans. The Central City plan is being reworked, and that did start this summer. The Central City North plan is not yet being worked on, at least according to anything I've heard and to the Planning Department website.

# on Dec.29.2008 AT 11:01 AM

JDRCRASH writes:

Eric, i'm not talking about those attractive looking brown buildings on the bottom of that photo; i'm talking about those warehouses and manufacturing buildings near the middle; are you sure that even when converted, they will look desirable by Residents, much less Developers?

# on Dec.29.2008 AT 03:37 PM

Eric Richardson writes:

You would be surprised at the impressive ways that developers can take the bones of an old but plain building and come out with something impressive. Is every building ripe for a conversion? No, but quite a few are great candidates to create the sort of big, open spaces needed for artists and creative uses.

# on Dec.29.2008 AT 06:46 PM

Tim Quinn writes:

Right to left in center of picture;

Long grey-green building is Barker Block, recently available live-work condos.

Below Barker Block is a brand new cold-storage building, single story beige concrete.

Low red brick buildings in center are some old under-utilized manufacturing and DWP maintenance yard and new-ish facilities.

Blue -grey six story at left edge is Factory Place, live work rental and full of artists for years.

Some people, me included, love the area for its alien non-suburban vibe. Lots of good restaurants are popping up over here, Urth Cafe, Royal Clayton's, Wurstkuche, East Third, Cafe Metropole, Church and State, Zen Sushi . . .

# on Dec.29.2008 AT 10:25 PM

Tim Quinn writes:

Oh d***, got left and right reversed, but you get the idea.

# on Dec.29.2008 AT 10:27 PM

JDRCRASH writes:

I'm just a little worried about what this particular area of Downtown will look like after it is converted to accomodate more Residential units, if the future revitalized L.A. River isn't finished.

# on Dec.30.2008 AT 02:59 PM