The future of a former park in Downtown LA is starting to get a little less murky, as Councilmember Jose Huizar has called on city staff to take the first steps to facilitate the site’s sale to private developers.
Angel’s Knoll, also known as the (500) Days of Summer park (or Bunker Hill Parcel Y-1 if you want to sound like you work for the city), was formerly operated as public green space by the LA Community Redevelopment Agency, but has been fenced off since 2013, after the agency was dissolved.
City officials began discussing the possibility of selling the park to a developer soon after it closed. Conveniently located right between a Metro subway stop and the (maybe someday reopening) Angel’s Flight railway, the property is well-suited to provide some much-needed green space to the Downtown area.
However, to make that happen, the city would have to buy Angel’s Knoll from the CRA successor agency, and at a potential price of more than $20 million, that’s not likely.
As Urbanize LA points out, this isn’t the first time that the property has been primed for development. Back in the early nineties, developers of the neighboring California Plaza planned to build a third office tower on the site, but backed out when the market went south.
Today, it’s far more likely that a residential development would rise on the hilly lot if the city does manage to facilitate the sale of the site.
Huizar’s motion to get the ball rolling on that process notes that the sale of the parcel "presents a major opportunity for the City to maximize the economic growth and potential of Downtown Los Angeles and beyond." Romantic park bench enjoyers, be damned.
- City to Seek Developer for Angel's Knoll Site [Urbanize LA]
- (500) Days of Summer Park Could Be Replaced With Skyscraper [Curbed LA]
- DTLA's Angels Knoll, aka (500) Days of Summer Park, Closed [Curbed LA]
- The 3 People Overseeing LA's Redevelopment Agency and Other Things to Know on Redevelopment Death Day [Curbed LA]
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