The smoke has cleared from the giant Downtown inferno that turned roughly half the construction site of developer Geoff Palmer's Da Vinci apartment complex into an ash pile last month, but one LA city councilmember is saying it shouldn't be rebuilt. Instead, says Councilmember Tom LaBonge, the city should buy the property and turn it into a parking lot. (To be fair, parking lots seem to be turning into skyscrapers a lot these days.) "Personally, I don't think that building should be rebuilt. It's too close to the freeway," LaBonge tells the LA Times. He's asked city staffers today to see if the city might purchase the site.
It's clear LaBonge really doesn't want a fauxtalian phoenix to rise from the site of what was to be Building B of the two-building Da Vinci, but even he admits that this whole city purchase plan is wacky. For one thing, "I don't know if the man wants to rebuild there," he says. And that's the thing: Palmer definitely said he did want to try again, just after the blaze, when he posted on the website for the Da Vinci that the building was only temporarily closed (Building A is supposed to open this month). The fire, which has been confirmed as a work of arson, erupted in early December and is still under active investigation, as no potential firestarters have been found or arrested.
· L.A. councilman pushes for city to buy burned downtown building [LAT]
· Last Week's Colossal Downtown Fire Was Set on Purpose [Curbed LA]
· The Past and Future of Downtown's Burnt Da Vinci Apartments [Curbed LA]
· Terrible Fauxtalian Fortress Lost in Spectacular Downtown Fire [Curbed LA]
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