TrojanDLA's Blog: All Categories

South Park welcomes the arrival of the South Company's triplet developments: Luma, Elleven and Evo. Representing the latest in green living and modern amenities, all 3 are new construction from the ground up and offers a true boutique urban lifestyle for Los Angelenos. Besides being only one block away from each other, they share a common vision of efficiency, convenience and comfort. All three are brightly lit with large expansive windows, yet offer three distinctively different flavors catering to a variety of tastes.

Luma

Nineteen stories of innovation and intelligence and leaving other residences with a sense of the ordinary, Luma is unconventional in both exterior architecture and living space. Artfully designed yet functional light and open, its…

Originally, back in the 1920's, everybody wanted to live Downtown, to be in the center of the action. But over time, things in Los Angeles began to change - for the worse. Since the 1950’s, real estate in Downtown L.A. was mostly commercial and office space, with very little residential activity. Los Angeles was the original model for the "suburban" way of life: drive downtown to work but live 20 minutes away. However, over time, those 20 minutes became 45 minutes as congestion choked the "suburban" way of life. Fast forward to today, and Los Angeles county residents now have a choice. No longer do they have to live in the suburbs if they don't want to.

With the arrival of a new generation of civic and business leaders at the turn of this millennium,…

The Hanover Company has not changed its plans to convert 717 Olympic to condominium units. Despite rumors and speculations otherwise, the modern building going up on northeast corner of Olympic and Figueroa a few blocks away from L.A. Live consists of luxury rental units more akin to hotel luxury than apartment ennui. Set to open in late 2008,  this highly anticipated development  will  add an architectural exclamation market to the  Figueroa corridor.  Please  contact The L.A. Condo Store if you are interested in renting one of the units at 717 Olympic.

Downtown LA's most expensive residential mixed use development, The Grand Avenue Project, appeared to be  indefinitely delayed as  its developer, Related Cos., was unable to secure  financing in this difficult credit environment. Enter  one of Dubai's royal families - the fund known as Istithmar has agreed to invest  $75 million into the project. As a result, the project may now proceed with acquiring the construction financing it needs to get started.

Now that the L.A. City Council has approved the L.A. River Park Plan, which transforms a 4 mile stretch of the LA river into green park land, what will happen to loft prices of those warehouse conversion in the Arts District which borders the River? Currently, the River looks like a giant industrial concrete channel bordered by railroad tracks on each side. But in ten years, those railroads will be routed underground and replaced by grass and trees, and the River bed cleaned up to welcome weekend picnics and festivals. As real estate owners and investors, we must all be mindful of the importance of a "long term" horizon. Buying a loft at the Biscuit Company or Toy Lofts today may not seem like much, but 10 years from now when the neighborhood suddenly is…

An article in the New York Times today reveals that major banks are demanding a government bailout: "Bank of America, which is in the process of acquiring Countrywide Financial and has potentially huge exposure, has circulated a proposal to create a new federal agency that would buy vast quantities of delinquent mortgages at a deep discount and replace them with fixed-rate federally guaranteed loans. The bank warned that tightening credit conditions were leading to 'escalating levels of delinquency and default among borrowers' and 'an unprecedented number' of homes that would enter foreclosure.'" www.nytimes.com/2008/02/22/business/22homes.html

This argument is sheer nonsense. How is increasing credit liquidity related to Mr. Joe being unable to pay his…

Most definitely the construction slow down is GREAT for LA, at this time. The reasons are simple: just keep pace with demand, but do not flood the market like San Diego did. Fortunately, it is pure luck and coincidence that LA did not suffer from the overbuilding of San Diego and Miami. LA simply came too late to the party, and by the time all these projects were stuffed through the pipeline, and believe me, they were FORCED into that pipeline, the credit crunch hit and developers were without money for groundbreaking.

A few of the high profile projects now on hold include Park Fifth, Grand Avenue Project, L.A. Central and the Herald Examiner refurbishment. That's over 1000 residential units right there. On the other hand, completed projects such as…