It's the last week in December, when according to tradition we make up a bunch of awards and hand them out to all the best, worst, and shitshowiest of things that happened in Los Angeles real estate, architecture, and neighborhoods this year. These are your 2011 Curbed Awards.
Top 5 Unarrested Developments
5) Eighth and Grand mixed-use in Downtown
4) Old Spaghetti Factory tower in Hollywood
3) 9900 Wilshire (old Robinsons-May) in Beverly Hills
2) 10000 Santa Monica Blvd. in Century City
1) Metropolis megaproject Downtown
The From Bad to Meh Award
For a project that started out terrible and became merely a snore. The award this year goes to the 43 story, eighties-tastic Daniel Libeskind tower planned for South Park, which died so that two ordinary-looking seven story apartment buildings could rise in its place.
The Something's Being Built! Award
For a truly astounding achievement in actually building something. After the hasty demolition of the Columbia Savings Bank, we really didn't think we'd be see anything for a while at the vast, dusty lot on the southeast corner of La Brea and Wilshire. But there it was in October: the first signs of work on BRE's 482 unit mixed-use project.
The Out With a Whimper Award
Rick Caruso's Shops at Santa Anita limped along as long as it could, but Caruso finally put the project out of its misery this year.
Achievements in CEQA
You're getting an expedited CEQA process! You're getting an expedited CEQA process! You're...not getting an expedited CEQA process because you cost less than $100 million. Courtesy of AEG's proposed Downtown NFL stadium: a new state law that allows many large projects to speed their way through legal challenges brought on the basis of the California Environmental Quality Act.
The Sprawly
For achievements in sprawl. The award this year goes to Travertine Point, whose developers thought "Why not create a city out of whole cloth on the shores of the occasionally-carcinogenic Salton sea?"
The AEG Award for Making Shit Happen in LA
From the Downtown NFL stadium approvals to new hotels to a lawsuit-expediting state law to filling its Ritz-Carlton Residences up with its own execs, AEG kept making it happen this year, no matter what.
Battle of the Year
Americana at Brand developer Rick Caruso knew that Glendale needed a new Nordstrom, so he went several rounds with neighbor and Golden Key hotel owner Ray Patel in hopes of expanding the Americana onto Patel's territory. He won. Here is what the Nordstrom will look like.
Cojones Award
Love it or hate it, it takes some balls to propose a plan that surrounds the Capitol Records building with two 48 story towers.
Big, Gay Development Award
It was only a matter of time before the desert went Boom and exploded in 100+ acres of multi-generational, pedestrian-oriented, culture-driven, gay-themed megadevelopment complete with rooftop mist disco.
· Curbed Awards 2011 [Curbed LA]