I have watched that project ever since I landed on Skid Row. I wanted to make it the backdrop of a screenplay. I have been in the real estate industry for almost 30 years. From what I saw from the street and from what I saw on the website, I have no doubt the units will sell like hotcakes. I may even send Erika my resume. Good luck, Ericka. You will do fine. I am sure you already know that. That project has a very unique design to it. It has a very airy feeling. It feels inviting, even with the reflective glass. its a standout and is positioned well in many ways.

eric,

can you ask erica where her assistant and the rest of the sales staff have gone?

"Going forward" equals "kiss of death." How many times was the phrase used here?

While aspects of the post were true ... the fundamentals were simply incorrect.

Let's see; vague assurances that the original investors are still "involved." Looking for new investors. "Internal" changes. Possible change of ownership is called an internal matter. Sales staff reduced. Full court PR press in a classic Chip Diller imitation.

Truth: Park Fifth has obviously run into difficulties due to radically changing market and commercial and real estate conditions. At the same time the organization needs to shift from one of planning and designing and marketing to one of construction and sales. These things happen. What cannot happen however is for Park Fifth to be caught lying about anything. Actually they cannot afford to even appear to be lying even if their statements are all legally correct. And face it, anyone with two brain cells to rub together can tell right away the exact wording of those answers were run past lawyers. Of particular interest: Park Fifth’s main investors remain involved in the project and are currently focused on securing finals permits and completing the EIR process. While that may be a complete and absolutely accurate answer if it turns out that the main investors are involved in the permits and EIR process as part of a planned exit strategy all the legal cover of the verbiage isn't going matter to the projects prospects "going forward."

All the hand waving and "all is well" happy talk has the opposite effect making people less assured. Visit the confessional, do penance and emerge pure.

^ You live in Ventura County. Why do care about what's going on in Los Angeles? I imagine most people who reside in or are closely involved with downtown Los Angeles couldn't care less about the goings-on in Ventura. And that's not because of cynicism, or tongue-clucking, towards the suburbs or exurbs, or hinterlands. It's because places like Oxnard or Camarillo aren't even on such people's radar to begin with.

I wonder if Marjorie is related to Don Koll. I admired him for a long time

Isn't that sweet. First reply and not a single response to the topicial comments. Nothing but question the person and their qualifications and motives.

I care because I sat through a sermon on Sunday with the Pastor bagging for more money to cover the deficit. A deficit cause by the Archdiocese and their DOWNTOWN cathedral. I care every time I am caught in traffic caused by poor urban planning. I care because LA and Ventura Counties are a single Caltrans District (7). I care because projects like this eventually have a direct impact on SCAG fair housing allowances in my neighborhood.

I tell you. It is amusing to hear Marjorie Koll pretend that "the hinterlands" are so very unimportant yet she feels compelled to use this discussion of a troubled downtown development to try and put them down in a pathetic defense of a downtown master plan that is clearly faltering.

Your speculation, "Rob Dawg", lacks credibility, because you wear your anti-urban agenda on your sleeve.

That doesn't mean you're wrong. It just means anybody reading this blog is going to take your analysis with a grain of salt.

You're blaming a deficit on the Our Lady of the Angels cathedral? In light of all the news about huge payouts from the Catholic Archdiocese to victims of molestation? LOL. It's obvious you really do have a weird anti-downtown axe to grind. That's even more the case because I bet your concern about traffic in Los Angeles, around downtown in particular, is in spite of the fact you rarely, if ever, drive there from wherever you live.

But what's really telling is that you're bagging on a "faltering" plan involving a community that's more than 60 miles away from you; that you're oddly smug about the idea of a proposed pair of residential and hotel towers encountering problems.

I guess there's not enough going on in the hinterlands -- in your own backyard (probably a dull one at that) -- to occupy your time and interests.

PS, I'm not related to Don Koll, Walter, but thanks for asking.

RobDawg, you should hit up Joel Kotkin. You two would make a great pair at the altar.

Rob Dawg trolls a lot of these boards with his unique form of "informed pessimism," and now I understand why. Because the city is the source of the ills of the exurbs.

That's funny to me. I always thought that the suburbs, and by extension the exurbs, are the single most pernicious influence on the city, by draining it of resources, making compact, energy efficient lifestyles close to impossible, fouling the air for hundreds of miles in every direction, and worst, creating a culture of blame directed at downtown.

It is morally indefensible to cover the entire countryside for hundreds of miles with single family houses and strip malls, and then blame downtown for the problems of the region.

go BERT

Sprawl has reached the farmlands and must stop there. We will all need to learn to live as a network of interdependent communities.

Defining 'pecking orders' and looking down at the neighbor are mindsets of the 20th century that have little or no place in a global society. We rise and sink together as a region.

Perhaps Rob Dawg's anger at Downtown will eventually lead to acceptance. The commute-less life Downtown has value many are only beginning to realize and are willing to trade for a lawn-less life.

I find it curious that you don't mention your company, Cartifact, being paid to do the map images and virtual tour for Park Fifth. It's a service not to disclose it to readers looking to you as a conduit of information and, in this case, PR spin.

Evan, did you miss the first sentence of the second paragraph of the post?

"I try not to mix work and this site, but Cartifact is providing an interactive map kiosk in the Park Fifth sales center..."

Is that not clear enough?

Hmmm, "is providing" sounds like charity to me, not a sales transaction. I guess it poses an interesting question though: Should blogs like this one be concerned with apparent or real conflicts of interest?

Bottom line: This entire post is blogdowntown acting as a marketing arm of the project to do damage control. As a longtime reader, I still think it does a disservice to not cover the issue honestly, or at least make a point of explaining your involvement: you were paid by this project. And your coverage reflects it. Or you're just such a downtown booster that you don't like publicizing an equity partner pulling out and an entires sales team losing their jobs.

if you can't understand the disclaimer in eric's original post, then you're working pretty hard to miss it. "is providing" sounds nothing like charity to me, especially when you consider the context (it's a transaction between two businesses) and the fact that he states that he doesn't like to mix WORK with the blog.

I've been watching and waiting for Park Fifth for quite a while mainly because I want to document its building progress via photograph. I work in the Pacific Mutual Building, so it's right around the corner from me and I have a good view from the roof here. Maybe one day Bert will show my stuff;)

Where the hell is their sales center?