With a record-setting amount of new construction going on in Los Angeles this year (and a huge chunk of it focused in South Park and other Downtown neighborhoods), what better time to look back on the last seven or eight years of development and remember what the city looked like before it all began. RentCafe has compiled a few rather dramatic before-and-afters that help capture not just how much has been built in Los Angeles in less than a decade, but also how these new developments have made LA taller, sleeker, and glassier.
↑ Back in 2008, this strip of Sunset just east of Gower was nothing but short buildings and a parking lot. Now it's the home of the troubled Sunset/Gordon tower and the Morphosis-designed Emerson College campus.
↑ The glassy Ritz-Carlton/Marriott on the left and the Marriott Courtyard/Marriott Residence Inn on the right were basically nonexistent in 2008. Earlier this year, developer AEG announced that the Ritz/Marriott would be getting a 38-story expansion on the same side of the street as the existing double Marriott, so by 2018 (the projected completion date), this view will be altered yet again.
↑ High-end, double-tower apartment complex The Vermont is a big fancy deal for Koreatown; it's fronted by some expensive public art.
↑ Bunker Hill's The Emerson apartments are the first piece of the huge but mostly-stalled Grand Avenue Project. It opened last year.
↑ In 2007, when the "before" picture was taken, the 22-story 8th + Hope tower was still just a glimmer in some developer's eye; owners/developers Wood Partners didn't buy the site until 2008, and the 290-unit complex didn't get underway until 2012. Tenants began moving in late last year.
↑ Those busy cranes hint that some serious work was going on when the older photo was taken, but now Apex (second on the left), the Watermarke Tower, and 717 Olympic are complete and firmly established. Apex is expected to be joined soon by another residential tower, the third and final piece of the project.
↑ The Evo South condo tower opened at a bad time for condo towers (2008), but still managed to sell some big-time penthouses.
↑ What was a hole in the ground surrounded by k-rail back in 2008 is now 1600 Vine, also known as that place above the Hollywood and Vine Trader Joe's.
· Vertical Living on the Rise in Los Angeles: 10 Before-and-After Images Show Dramatic Skyline Changes [RentCafe]
· Mapping 28 Projects on the Way in DTLA's Booming South Park [Curbed LA]
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