Historic Core to Get New Park Next to Rowan, El Dorado
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — The Historic Core is set to get a new 35,000 square foot park on Spring street. The announcement was made this morning at a meeting of the Council District 9 Quimby Task Force. The lot, previously slated for a hotel and condo development, will be sold to the city for $5.6 million, to be funded out of Quimby fees.
New parks have been consistently identified as a high priority by Downtown residents. This morning's announcement came as quite the happy surprise for the dozen or so stakeholders present at the City Hall meeting.
The land is a irregularly shaped parcel currently holding parking lots and construction staging.
Developer Downtown Properties owns the parcel, located between the Rowan Lofts and the El Dorado on Spring street. The land had been appraised for $6.3 million in September. The price comes oit to roughly $157 per square foot, a considerable bargain in a neighborhood where land had until recently been selling for up to $500 per square foot.
At the meeting this morning, the Department of Recreation and Parks told stakeholders that it had no concrete plans for the design of the park, and that plans would be developed out of meetings with the community. Early ideas include green space and using a portion of the site for a dog park.
Escrow is expected to close in March. Talks were started late last year. A timeline for when the land would open as park space has not been set.
Next door, Downtown Properties is set to go to auction on 79 units in the Rowan Lofts. The auction will take place February 8. On the other side of the park space, the developer is at work on the El Dorado Lofts, another high-end residential conversion.
nirad on January 14, 2009, at 11:35AM – #1
Whoohoo!!!!!
Urban Bruin on January 14, 2009, at 12:48PM – #2
"one small step for downtown, one giant leap for canine"
Jim Winstead on January 14, 2009, at 01:11PM – #3
i wonder what sort of impact this will have on the prices for the upcoming rowan auction.
Eric Richardson (@blogdowntown) on January 14, 2009, at 01:30PM – #4
I know that I have a friend who was avoiding certain units because of the potential for a development here to hurt the views. This locks those in. I would think Downtown Properties had to have been thinking about that in this deal.
Susana on January 14, 2009, at 02:09PM – #5
WOW!!! WOW!!! Woohooo!!!! lol It makes me want to go get a unit at the Rowan! Wow! :)
They should go to San Francisco and study the pocket parks they have there. I really hope that they contract the design of the park to an outside firm.. I'm not so sure the city's planner/architects would inspire trust in the neighborhood. --Just a thought.
Brandon on January 14, 2009, at 02:42PM – #6
Was this supposed to be the parking lot for Rowan/El Dorado or is there another lot allocated for that?
seb on January 14, 2009, at 04:20PM – #7
That's nice, but it's too sad we are getting rid of what would have been another beautiful skysrise that would have inpacted the L.A. skyline not to mention add more retail and restaurant space.
Eric Richardson (@blogdowntown) on January 14, 2009, at 04:44PM – #8
Brandon: The parking is in the Old Bank Garage, which is off of Main street.
Dan on January 14, 2009, at 05:08PM – #9
There will be plenty of new, good retail (200,000SF if I'm not mistaken), at the under-construction apartment complex a block away on 4th and Main. Hopefully this park will be a great place to have outdoor concerts, Historic Core's own weekend farmer's market, and other neighborhood social events. Aesthetically, it will also be a perfect complement to the backdrop of the great historic buildings. Forget about South Park, the Historic Core is the place to be!
Jim Winstead on January 14, 2009, at 05:32PM – #10
historic downtown is hardly starved for retail space, even before medallion adds a whole ton of additional space. plopping a 30-story building in the middle of that block always seemed fairly questionable.
Karin Liljegren on January 14, 2009, at 06:07PM – #11
We have millions of s.f. for retail/commercial. Broadway is and should be the next retail/commercial focus. This park is amazing news for OBD, Rowan, Owners and Renters. As I've stated a few other times - let's prove that downtown is NOT in a recession! (and for you nay sayers that commonly fill this blog - I say to you - just TRY and say something negative about this one!)
Juanito on January 14, 2009, at 07:35PM – #12
Yay!!!!
No dog turds in Pershing Square!!!!
Hoooray.
Tim Quinn on January 14, 2009, at 08:59PM – #13
"No-concrete plan"
Sounds like a great idea!
Jon on January 15, 2009, at 03:52PM – #14
How about a basketball court as part of the park?
Dennis on January 15, 2009, at 04:39PM – #15
All I can say is YAY!! This is such great news!
Kevin Haah on January 17, 2009, at 12:16PM – #16
Very cool! It's about time we added some green space around here.
Bruce on January 21, 2009, at 11:40AM – #17
If I were a dog I'd be wagging my tail right now. A portion serving as a 'dog park' sounds perfect. Arf.