Hearings One Week Away, Stadium Reports Pick Up Speed
Gensler
Rendering of Farmers Field, AEG's proposed NFL stadium and events center
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — As next week's hearings on AEG's proposal to build an NFL stadium and events center on the site of the Convention Center's West Hall move closer, news both for and against the $1.3-billion project is starting to pick up speed.
The company and the city are currently negotiating terms of a deal under which AEG would privately develop the $1 billion Farmers Field, while the city would issue just under $300 million in bonds to reconstruct the aging and disconnected West Hall over Pico Boulevard.
This morning, AEG will host a press conference touting the results of two economic studies the firm commissioned. According to the L.A. Times, one study shows that the development would create $41 million in new annual tax revenue. The other says that reconfiguration of the Convention Center and the development of the stadium would boost L.A.'s convention total from 24 in 2012 to 38 in 2016.
Those numbers bolster the company's case that its proposal to privately fund the $1 billion Farmers Field is a no-brainer for the city. Those conventions can mean big business—the recently completed Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference was estimated to generate 53,500 hotel room nights and $48 million in economic activity.
Still, not everyone is ready to bank on those increased revenues. A group called LA Neighbors United took out a full-page ad yesterday (PDF) claiming that the increased revenues were likely to be wiped out by debt service and improvements near the stadium. It calls for a mandated 1% return on development costs that would be funneled into citywide improvements such as sidewalk repair.
Elsewhere, AP reporter Jacob Adelman says that AEG's plans could be an attempt to aid flagging sales in its adjacent Ritz-Carlton condo tower. According to Adelman, only 32 of the 224 luxury units have closed, with several of those sales going to AEG executives.
On Wednesday and Thursday evenings, July 27 and 28, the City Council's ad-hoc committee studying the project will hold hearings on a proposed agreement, which the City Administrator's Office is expected to deliver by Monday. After that, the talks will move to the full City Council, which will dedicate its entire meeting on Friday, July 29, to the project. Any vote would come in a followup meeting.
downtown vibe on July 20, 2011, at 02:12PM – #1
Could somebody clarify exactly where the new Pico Hall would be?
It sounds like it will be above Pico Blvd.
Given that the LA LIVE complex would be an obvious target for terrorists, I can't believe anybody would propose a convention hall over a major street in Los Angeles. That would be silly...
crystal on July 20, 2011, at 04:05PM – #2
Where else would it go except near the current convention center? Yes its probably a possible target but so is any other large venue in the country. we can't live our lives waiting for that. Farmers Field will also be used as convention space when not being used for games. So they all have to be near by and make up the convention center complex that LA Live was built to support.
downtown vibe on July 20, 2011, at 06:30PM – #3
You don't put a convention hall made to hold 10's of thousands of people suspended over a major traffic artery where a truck full of fertilizer could blow it up...just like the Federal Building in Oklahoma City.
Crystal, whether you want to admit it or not, terror threats have changed the way we design buildings today. The new police headquarters had to be set back from the street. The underground parking had to be moved down the street.
These are the realities of designing public spaces in 2011.
I would bet that NO major City in North America or Europe would be willing to take this kind of gamble with public safety. This must be a mistake.
William Crandell on July 20, 2011, at 09:19PM – #4
Ever hear of nano-tech? Kevlar? For example: soon there will be super high-strength glass which can replace steel in what we now know as steel frame skyscrapers.
All that would be needed are high-strength baffles suspended on shock absorbers over Pico.
No doubt the American Association of Dynamite Manufacturers will some day come to town to hold an annual convention. They can block off Pico and use it for a first night party place. Whatta blast!
J-M on July 20, 2011, at 11:28PM – #5
Adelman's piece is fascinating. I was wondering how many of those condos had been sold. Seems like the biggest beneficiary of the stadium would be AEG and the NFL. Having said that, I'm not going to whine about it anymore. Seems like it's a done deal. Money talks.
Twirly Burly on July 22, 2011, at 12:24AM – #6
Even if just a few of these complex parts go wrong, it could be a mini disaster for downtown LA. Does anyone truly think AEG will find a solution for all these problems with the stadium plan? It's better to shoot it down now rather than to live through the mess after it's too late.
downtown vibe on July 22, 2011, at 08:41AM – #7
So I guess it is true. According to this site the entire West Hall will sit on top of Pico Blvd.
http://www.farmersfield.com/pages/la-convention-center/
God help us....
DenOfLosAngeles on July 22, 2011, at 12:02PM – #8
Are all those who are speaking against the Farmers Field project have any documentation backing their claims or are they only using speculation.
downtown vibe on July 22, 2011, at 01:33PM – #9
This is what I'm talking about:
Oslo Terror Attack 7/22/2011
"At least seven people were killed in the blast and nine more in the camp shootings, the peaceful nation's worst violence since World War II."
Do you think after today, even the "peaceful" people of Norway would build a convention hall on top of major street?
William Crandell on July 22, 2011, at 10:23PM – #10
"It's better to shoot it down now rather than to live through the mess after it's too late."
Judging by all of his remarks about this proposal, one imagines that Twirly is a real estate agent, somewhere out beyond South El Monte.
"Do you think after today, even the "peaceful" people of Norway would build a convention hall on top of major street?"
Downtown Vibe has been making too much use of, should lay off his/her vibrator. What is to prevent some kook from causing mayhem in a stadium located anywhere?
downtown vibe on July 22, 2011, at 11:57PM – #11
William,
Only an IDIOT would put this hall over a major street. A truck full of explosives could stop underneath and explode.
You don't build a building with a giant pin in the side and dare a lunatic to pull it!
You must be an idiot if you can't see that. What do you want to bet NOBODY has shown this design to Homeland Security.
Do you have any experience in anti-terrorism design?
How about crime prevention through environmental design?
The only reason why this project would be pushed like this is because, somebody has figured out that they can create valuable real estate where none existed. The fact is you can't put both a new convention hall and a stadium on this land because it is not big enough!
You can ridicule what I have said, but I challenge you to show this plan to ANYBODY in government who is actually concerned with public safety. You do, and Pico Hall won't get built like this!
Your local politicians are going to personally benefit by selling this flawed project to the public. They need to slow down and put public safety first.
By the way, I have a degree related to this topic, so f-off!
downtown vibe on July 23, 2011, at 12:13AM – #12
By the way maybe you can make a helmet out of that Kevlar of yours and stand under this new convention hall... let's see if it works!
William Crandell on July 23, 2011, at 04:50PM – #13
o.k. - was that a B.S. in homeland security? M.S.? A.A.? Or an extension course? You were prescient. You've hit paydirt bud! Who knew that Casey Wasserman would take one look at the L.A. Convention Center and start imagineering things.
Interesting, in that this past week I've been involved in a project relating to this, following a harrowing death caused by a homeland security device last weekend. The installation of that device was managed by the office playboy less than a year ago.
The device and one just like it has been disabled and will be removed. An alternative Rube Goldberg-like device with all appropriate bells and whistles will be installed at three locations, all for homeland security and federally code approved.
Short of an atomic bomb I see your paydirt issue as simply a matter of physics and engineering design using existing as well as newly developed materials. Armoring, baffling and channeling and using the gravity of the building overhead. Nada mas. In Oklahoma City and at the World Trade Center, the energy came from the side.
downtown vibe on July 24, 2011, at 10:31PM – #14
William,
I'm a Structural Engineer for the government.
This project is going to be built as cheaply as possible. Is a project that is being "fast tracked" by the developer going to get the latest" high tech materials? Not likely. This is the same developer that got the City to open Staples Center without a working fire prevention system.
More likely, what we are looking at is a bait and switch proposal. The developer gets the City to sign a binding financial contract based on an abstract concept with no plans. Then later, the concept will be deemed unworkable. The Pico Hall will be downsized or eliminated. Maybe we just need to use the Farmers Field a few times a year.
The safety issues of the LAPD headquarters became so huge that the project had to be split over several different sites. Just one change order was $50 million. And by the way, what do you think would have happened to the Oklahoma Federal building if the truck bomb was driven under the building before it was detonated.
There are too many variables for you or anybody to guarantee that the floor of a convention hall would be blast proof. How big of a blast? From what angle? We can't even design a building to be earthquake "proof" for exactly the same reason. We design the best we can based on the information that we have...then cross our fingers. So I'm guessing this hall will not be placed over Pico Blvd.
If it is, it will be just a matter of time before somebody tries to take it out. Then NOBODY will come to downtown.
William Crandell on July 25, 2011, at 09:53PM – #15
The federal building in Ok City wasn't designed with Timothy McVeigh in mind (regardless of where the blast emanated).
I'm not certain about your inherent prediction that not a single city council member or a member of the city board of public works or any official in the police, fire and building and safety departments would not step forward and demand that a convention hall bridging across Pico be made safe and reliable, and I'm not talking about earthquakes and fire.
If the west hall replacement would indeed boost the convention center up into the nation's top five, the financial payback of such an elevation, such a rise in the center's profile, begins to suggest or question whether proceeding under a bare bones budget could easily backfire due to third rate architecture and tenth rate urban design. It is not only the adjacency of various activities and the location's centrality that are so key to the proposal, have boosted it's prospects above those of that third rate design of a stadium somewhere east of South El Monte.
But the issue of IMAGE and integration (urban design) will be just as critical as the design of the stadium. A design produced by a bare bones budget is bound to fail, will bite the city in the ass down the road and the center will not rise to the top five. Puff mongering can only go so far if the image and quality is not there and the customers are not happy after spending their convention dollars in Downtown L.A.
I'll repeat: armoring, baffling and channeling - as well as bracing and anchoring. After all, a blast can be absorbed downward and sideways just as easily as upward. The city fathers need to deeply consider whether we should go for, set our sights upon an opulent payback or otherwise risk getting kicked in the ass and becoming a national laughing stock. The prospect of a huge boost in image, international acclaim and financial payback begs the question of whether the nation's second largest city had ought to partner with AEG in order to assure success. But I'm afraid that we'll end up with with a disappointment, round and about a decade following the sterling success of the concert facility on Bunker Hill. Disney Hall (as predicted) has become ground zero to the city's civic identity. Shifting that ground zero to the southwest corner of Downtown ought to be AEG's top priority.
Fat chance, not without a Medici stepping forward. Someone who could bankroll a great urban assemblage, a farther advance in the civic identity. Frankly, We need Frank.
William Crandell on July 25, 2011, at 10:04PM – #16
p.s. - no I'm not suggesting that Gehry should cough up at least fifty million. David Geffen should! That would prove that he's really got a pair..