Is there some law that says a major South Park development must be for sale at all times? Philip Anschutz pulled LA Live developer AEG off the market this morning (and with it, the ever-less-likely Farmers Field stadium), but here comes IDS Real Estate Group shopping the 6.3-acre site that was going to be home to the huge Metropolis project. No price has been revealed, but the LA Times thinks it could go for around $140 million. What will one lucky buyer get for their money? A large parking lot, and preliminary approvals to build 1.65 million square feet of hotels, condos, offices, and retail.
The site, which is east of the 110 Freeway between Eighth and Ninth Streets, was put together in the late 1980s "by developers who promised a 'city within a city.'" Michael Graves won an international competition to design the project, though the LA Times tactfully observes that "urban planning tastes have changed since Graves envisioned Metropolis as a cluster of towers surrounding a central courtyard." (You could also call it "gawky.") When IDS bought the site there were also plans for an Arquitectonica-designed tower that fell through. In 2011, we noted that the latest Metropolis plans "will depend heavily on whether LA gets an NFL team/stadium and a new Convention Center hall." So maybe the timing of today's news isn't such a coincidence.
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