6 Story Mar Vista Project Faces Resistance

Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Bonin is planning to fight a building that he believes is out of character and scale with the neighborhood. The project would be the tallest building on Venice Blvd from downtown to the beach.

“This isn’t the right project for Mar Vista, and I intend to continue to vehemently oppose it as proposed,” Bonin wrote. “To be clear, I support building more affordable housing — especially along transit corridors where we need it the most — but this proposal is too tall and out of character with the neighborhood.”

The project would offer 77 units, including 7 affordable units for artists, and ground floor retail.

Two neighborhood organizations are supporting Bonin in his attempt to fight the appeal coming before the Planning Department later this month.

DEVELOPMENT WOULD BE THE TALLEST ON VENICE BOULEVARD FROM DOWNTOWN TO THE BEACH

 

A Writer’s 50’s Style Los Feliz Home

A well traveled fiction writer’s Los Feliz 1958 home features a style she calls ‘eclectic mid-century modern.’ A versatile design with a creative vide was important because the home functions has a living space, work space and meeting space for other writers.

Inland Empire Leads Nation In Creation of Construction Jobs

Riverside and San Bernardino Counties have created 12,200 jobs in the past year, a 14% increase, far outpacing the number 2 and 3 regions – Atlanta (up 9,400 jobs, or 8 percent); Tampa-St. Petersburg (up 8,600 jobs), according to the jobs report by the Associated General Contractors of America.

Los Angeles and Orange County have added about 5,000 jobs each, for a increase about 4%. Perhaps, Kotkin is right and people want suburban homes and not high density infill departments.

The state as a whole is also leading the nation in the creation of construction jobs with an increase of 42,200 construction jobs, for an increase of 5.5 percent. This means the Inland Empire accounted for over 25% of all construction jobs added in the state and Southern California accounted for over half of those jobs.

California, Inland Empire in building booms: 6 things to know

Hygge Cardiff-By-The-Sea Home

This interior designer’s San Diego area home tries to exemplify the trendy Danish concept of Hygge that encompasses the sort of cozy comfort one gets from being with friends and family.

“To me, it’s about celebrating ordinary things that bring me joy and comfort—lighting my favorite candle, curling up with a soft blanket, putting a small vase of flowers on my bedside table,” she explains. “It’s about indulgence, but not extravagance, and there’s a distinct difference between the two.”

Betsy Bracken Has Turned Her Cardiff House into a Home

$84k Is Now Low Income in the OC According to HUD

A family of 4 earning $84,000 per year would qualify for certain programs intended to assist low income families, like down payment assistance and second mortgage programs. That figure is significantly higher than the LA County threshold of $64,300. The median income in Orange County is $88,000.

However, residents would have to earn $31,300 in the OC to qualify for other programs like Section 8.

“You probably need to make three times the median income to afford the median-priced house, “Karla Lopez del Rio, NeighborWorks’ vice president of marketing said.

6.4 Acre Mixed-Use Village Coming to Pasadena

The 100 Walnut project will create a ‘village’ of several buildings that will offer 400 residential units and 210,000 square feet of office space and 17,500 square feet of retail near Old Town Pasadena.

Renderings Galore for Pasadena’s 100 West Walnut

Cheech Marin Plans Art Museum in Riverside

Noted art collector Cheech Marin is planning to establish a 60,000 square foot Chicano Art Museum and Research Center in a mid-century modern building currently occupied by the main branch of the Riverside Public Library. The library will not only house Marin’s own 800 piece collection, but also serve as the world center for Chicano art.

The project will be collaboration between Marin, the Riverside Library and the Riverside Art Museum.

The idea came about the Riverside Art Museum had record attendance for an exhibition featuring pieces from Marin’s collection. The proposed will museum will be a way for the Riverside Art Museum to engage with the hispanic residents that comprise 50% of the city’s population.

Cheech Marin teams up with city of Riverside and Riverside Art Museum to develop Chicano art center

Westworld's Dr. Ford Actually Lives in Glendale

Or at least that’s where the house used in filming is located. Now the historic 1929 3,550 square 5 bed 4 bath house can be yours for $1.94 million. The half acre property features lots of trees and a separate guest house.

Interiors were obviously filmed on a set.

No word on whether the home also contains a secret basement for making androids.

Historic Glendale house doubles as a ‘Westworld’ set

Westworld’s Dr. Ford Actually Lives in Glendale

Or at least that’s where the house used in filming is located. Now the historic 1929 3,550 square 5 bed 4 bath house can be yours for $1.94 million. The half acre property features lots of trees and a separate guest house.

Interiors were obviously filmed on a set.

No word on whether the home also contains a secret basement for making androids.

Historic Glendale house doubles as a ‘Westworld’ set

LA City Council Considers Development Restrictions in Silver Lake and Echo Park

Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell has proposed two measures that might restrict development in two Eastside neighborhoods currently highly popular with developers.

Generally, these measures address O’Farrell’s concern that any development in these areas “complements, and is consistent with, the scale and character of the built environment.”

One measure may restrict commercial and high density development in Echo Park by asking the city to study the impact of such developments on the local neighborhood.

The second measure attempts to protect Silver Lake’s mid-century modern architecture from demolition by requiring the city to consider how new development impacts the character of the surrounding area.

Both measures now await further consideration.

Councilmember Considers Development Impacts in Silver Lake and Echo Park

After Santa Monica DCP, A New Push for More Housing in Downtown

The release of Santa Monica’s Downtown Community Plan hasn’t stopped community activists from pushing for more housing downtown to relieve the housing ‘famine’ gripping the city.

While the activists are short on detailed solutions, they do object to lowering the existing 84 foot height restrictions to around 40-60 feet depending on what part of the city you are in. One exception is the 7 story allowance for transit oriented development near the Expo Line.

City Officials contend that with even with various restrictions in the DCP, the city will still add 2,500 units and effectively double the downtown population in 20 years. However, in the short term, one report says the City needs to add 1,674 units throughout the city in the next four years alone.

Sadly, city officials seemed to agree to with activists that even the more optimistic efforts to increase the downtown housing supply would hardly do anything to lower rents.

“The reality is, if you doubled the number of units in downtown Santa Monica over the period of time we are speaking, you probably would not effect the rent on a one bedroom apartment by more than about 100 bucks,” City Manager Rick Cole said.

Advocates push for more housing in Downtown Santa Monica