Yesterday, the Oversight Board that's taken over from the dead Community Redevelopment Agency of LA approved several major projects of interest in Downtown. Agenda Item #2 (pdf) approved the purchase and sale of the Cleantech Manufacturing Center site for $15.4 million to TC LA Development Inc. (i.e., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Trammell Crow Company). The site, located at 2425-2455 East Washington Boulevard, has been caught in the redevelopment juggling act for months--seemingly sold in November, caught in the state's budget drama in December, and brought back to life in April when East West Bank gave an extension on a loan to keep the sale alive. The history of the redevelopment plans for the Cleantech Corridor goes back even further than that. In 2007, a deal with Italian rail car manufacturer AnsaldoBreda Inc. failed after a year of negotiations, temporarily defeating the prospect of more than 1,000 manufacturing jobs at the site. The Oversight Board's actions yesterday will also send out a bid for a company to continue the substantial environmental remediation work that needs to occur on the site as a result of over 130 years of heavy manufacturing use.
Item #9 on the Oversight Board agenda (pdf), also approved yesterday, transferred the state grant for development of the Figueroa Corridor complete streets project. That project, also known as the MyFigueroa project, would deliver LA's first separated track bicycle lane along Figueroa Street in Downtown, along with other street and sidewalk improvements around LA Live and USC. The $30 million grant will be transferred to the city's Department of Transportation, which accepted custody of the project in April. If the LADOT hadn't stepped up, a sunset for the grant would have killed the exciting prospect of the city's biggest complete streets project to date, with early design work by LA-based landscape architecture and urban design firm Melendrez.
Both items will now go to the state's Department of Finance for final approval.
· Cleantech Corridor Deal Rising From the Redevelopment Ashes [Curbed LA]
· Figueroa Street Overhaul Back on the (Separated Cycle) Track [Curbed LA]
Loading comments...