tenten wilshire comes to its senses, adds retail
When luxury housing project TENTEN Wilshire opened in early June to well-heeled Downtown corporate professionals, original plans for the converted tower did not include ground-level retail, even with its prime location at the foot of the Financial District.
Six storefront-looking spaces along Wilshire may have seemed like ideal spots for a new sandwich shop, nail salon or T-Mobile store, but each were built out as fully-furnished rental units — strangely with direct access to the sidewalk via commercial-grade doors. They serve as makeshift admin offices or “street models” for passersby, which seems like a lost opportunity for pedestrian growth in the neighborhood.
During an early preview tour in April, property rep Brittany Detwiler told angelenic developer Amidi Real Estate Group may eventually use the spaces for retail tenants, though nothing immediate was intended.
Now, possibly due to weak leasing performance upstairs, that gear seems to have shifted after only a couple short months.
Signage posted this week announces Urban Life Cleaners is filling one of the should-have-been-all-along-commercial spots, and is planning a very corny clever grand opening party for itself. Playing on the 1010 Wilshire building address, the new dry cleaners will arrive on October 10, opening its doors at 10:10am that morning. (No, I’m not kidding.)
Great news for City West, but where do you draw the line on the lame promotion?
More photos, the lobby as it looks from the sidewalk, after the cut…
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new roosevelt lighting scheme needs work
Walk down 7th Street through the Financial District after dusk one night, and you might find yourself stunned.
Gearing up for their grand opening, the Roosevelt Lofts was sporting a new lighting scheme last night — and its designers seem to be taking the building’s “time in the limelight” a little too seriously… or maybe just doing some early celebrating for Mardi Gras 2009.
Bright green lights now accent the building’s Beaux-arts details in one corner, counter-balanced (or not) by dim purple lighting across the rest of the facade. (Look closely, it’s there.)
The effect is confusing, garish and lacks direction, not at all in line with the tasteful finishes we’ve seen come together this year around the main lobby and valet parking entrance.
Let’s hope this gets resolved before Roosevelt residents decide to back out of their condo purchase agreements.
An attempt to capture the purple light more clearly, after the jump…
reconfigured 1111 wilshire project listed for sale
Expected as a follow up to its 201-unit GLO project, developer Holland Partners wowed City West residents in 2006 with plans to erect a 52-story residential/boutique hotel tower on the opposite corner of Wilshire and Bixel.
Now, like the visions of most builders in a sagging economy, ambitions have been scaled back to a more attainable level — at least, they hope, in the eyes of a new taker.
New information released by real estate company Moran & Company listing the proposed development — known simply as 1111 Wilshire — for sale, indicates the hotel component has been dropped altogether, leaving room for 397 residential units and 6,500 square-feet of commercial space over two downgraded structures.
little tokyo mall could get showy new exterior
As lease negotiations with new Korean businesses lead the Little Tokyo Shopping Center toward a future that doesn’t quite fit its name, new owners are hoping to give the complex a fresh identity to mark the times.
New renderings available from SLAB Architects show the bland three-story concrete block building, built in the mid-1980s, with a bright plum-colored facade embellishment — an eye-catcher arguably more suited for the LA Live area than the fringe of the Arts District.
The wrap-around shell, if carried out as shown, would cover a large portion of the elevation along Alameda and extend to the main entrance on 3rd Street. A slightly translucent material and over-sized billboards are part of the design.
And changes wouldn’t stop there.
dionysus would be proud: 10th annual greek festival september 5, 6 and 7
It’s time to get your Greek on at this weekend’s 10th Annual LA Greek Fest. The event is held at the beautiful St. Sophia Cathedral on Pico and Normandie in LA’s historic Byzantine-Latino Quarter. There you will find three days’ worth of all things Greek.
Indulge your voracious hedonistic appetite on Greek food (gyros, spanikopita, moussaka), Greek beer, Greek wine and Greek coffee. Then burn it all off Greek line dancing to traditional Greek music (workshops offered for the uninitiated). Even Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson will make an appearance to chair the festivities.
Good news: the Metro Rapid Line 730 runs a route from Union Station down Broadway to Pico, so Downtowners have a convenient way of getting to the event and safely downing libations.
Come on down and have yourself a Big Fat Greek Time!
10th Year LA Greek Fest
Saint Sophia Cathedral
1324 S Normandie Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90006
213-737-2424
Friday, Sept. 5 from 5:00pm to 11:00pm, FREE all night
Saturday, Sept. 6 from 1:00pm to 11:00pm, $5 Admission
Sunday, Sept. 7 from 12:00pm to 10:00pm, $5 Admission
See website for $1 off admission coupon
show’s over: lime cafe closed indefinitely
Is three months enough time to judge the success of a new business?
Most of the time the answer is definitely not, though in the case of Lime Cafe, the “not totally authentic” Mexican grill’s travails were particularly well documented. After only twelve weeks, first-time restaurateur Michael Franz has shuttered the operation in the Security Building, telling angelenic that there simply was not enough capital left in the business.
So what went wrong?
Slow service riled some, and others disliked the music. Surely, closing for nearly a month couldn’t have helped cash flow.
But in the end, I believe it was the combination of a lack of promotion and not enough time to let things work that did it in. Most new businesses are money losers for quite some time before ever turning a profit, so it’s up to owners to prepare for that beforehand.
glo gets brighter with new retail tenants
Building on the pedestrian activity ignited earlier this year by Starbucks, GLO developer Holland Partners is busy filling the storefronts of its new mixed-use complex in City West.
Great Steak & Potato Company, an American quick-service franchise self-described as “a true meat and potatoes concept,” is pairing with juice and smoothie shop Surf City Squeeze to take a 1,750 square-foot space along Wilshire Boulevard, only two doors down from Starbucks.
According to Development Manager Taleene Bassenian with Holland, the two retailers are on the fast track and hope to open by December 2008. Active negotiations continue to finalize suitors for the remaining commercial unit on Wilshire, as well as the two spaces at Bixel and Ingraham.
Great Steak and Surf City Squeeze currently operate other Downtown locations inside the Historic Core’s Broadway Spring Center near Spring and 3rd.
-subway sandwiches now serving city west
-waves of change envelop city west’s wilshire corridor
-news brief: glo starbucks opens today
trader vic’s signs lease at la live, takes final space
Polynesian restaurant chain Trader Vic’s has signed a lease to fill the final restaurant space at LA Live!
The announcement comes shortly after developer AEG released info that two other Southern California eateries will be joining the restaurant mix scheduled to arrive this December inside the complex’s Club Nokia building.
Trader Vic’s will host live entertainment, including Polynesian dancers and singers, most nights of the week and is slated to open its doors in spring 2009, according to owner The Valencia Group.
