Passenger Trains > LA Union Station construction in parking lot

Found some news in the March 29, Downtown News, regarding the building construction taking place on the grounds of Los Angeles Union Station.

On the northwest corner of Alameda and Cesar Chavez, will be two five story buildings with 278 one and two bedroom apartments. The $34 million project, located on 2.75 acres is being built by Lincoln Property based in Dallas Texas, with a local office in Newport Beach. Units will range in size of 640 sq ft to 1,400 sq ft

Amenities will include a rooftop pool and spa, an exercise facility and computer center. The project must reflect the design of the 1939 Spanish Mission-style of the Station.

On the Southwest corner of Alameda and the 101 freeway, is a three story, 47,000 sq ft office complex for the First 5 LA, a nonprofit that funds children's development programs. Move in is expected by the end of this year.

These projects will wipe out most of the existing auto parking. Looks like the MTA Gateway Plaza underground parking lot will see a lot more use. Its been cheaper then the Union Station parking for some time, but we can expect this to raise. Present outdoor at Union Station is $10.00 a day and Gateway has been $6.00.

Housing for railfans, no doubt.

Why do they say Northwest corner of Alameda & CC? The construction I see is on the Southeast corner. And the Standard station on the Northwest corner is still very much alive, as is the Days Inn and surrounding buildings. I don't think they'll be tearing down Olvera St. very soon. Somebody needs a geography lesson. All the LAUPT properties are on the EAST side of Alameda SOUTH of CC. And just to throw in a little editorial comment: I HATE what they're doing to the place! And so do a lot of other innocent victims of this cowardly Catellus drive-by. Pretty soon the only way you'll be able to see Union Station is from a helicopter.

>Housing for railfans, no doubt<

I thought that was what Terminal and Mission Towers were!

I TOTALLY agree with you SurflinerHogger. What IDIOT (politician) allowed this to happen. LAUPT is known for its beautiful architecture and these people will manage to hide it for the rest of time. Like Grand Central in NYC, LAUPT might as well look like a Jack-in-the-box building -- who will care, noone will see it anyway!
I guess these people believed the movie line -- "Greed is good."

gyralite Wrote:
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> I TOTALLY agree with you SurflinerHogger.

I agree as well. I went to the Dodger/Giants game last week and my jaw dropped when I saw the steel frame of this new building going up as you exit the 101 freeway. It looks horrible and blocks the view of the station. A very bad decicion...

Sal Garcia
Pico Rivera, California

Well, no big surprise... This is the attitude that's kept L.A. in the dark ages with public transportation. Kind of funny though, that the complaint has always been the disconnection between the station and downtown... So now they go the other extreme and build downtown right on top of it. I don't know, sometimes I think that whole area was better off with just the artists and bums living there.

Whatever happen to the huge, crazy looking sculpture thing they wanted to put along the freeway years ago? I remember reading about that. Obviously that one got axed.

Dave
Los Angeles, CA

-Rail Radio Online-Home of the "TrainTenna" RR Monitoring Antenna-
http://eje.railfan.net/railradioonline

It wasn't a politician - it was, as Surfliner said, Catellus. They are a spin-off of the Santa Fe's property division. (i.e. they develop real estate for the BNSF?) It's "their land" and developing it into something that makes more money than a parking lot makes sense to them.

I hate the thought of losing the vistas of LAUS also, but that's the almighty dollar for you. At least the city imposed some design restrictions on them.

Just to upset you people- I bought some stock in Catellus (despite my broker's misgivings) and it has gone up 63% in value. I agree with all of you that we will miss the station facade!

This is what we call Transit oriented devlopment, TOD. Penn Station and other Large Railway stations are surrounded by Apartments and office buildings. So, Whats the big deal.

http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1413,200~20954~2117344,00.html link for right wing conspiracy members

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-olvera30apr30,1,1261290.story?coll=la-headlines-california link for leftards

Nah, lines too many pockets with CASH. I don't know what you all are crying about, wait til the webcams and railroad radios and data streams are shooting out of one of those condos for your enjoyment.



SurflinerHogger Wrote:
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I don't think
> they'll be tearing down Olvera St.

Both the State of California and Amtrak had the opportunity years ago to purchase the station, but no money to do so.

So transit again suffers, for the all mighty Greed!

I believe that there is A Silver Lining to this cloud of construction that many people overlook.

In the case of the MTA building and the Water Building: I used to see a handful of people sporting those ID badges when I worked the Surfliners, and I am sure there are quite a few employees who work in those buildings that take Metrolink. More office space within convenient walking distace to the depot means more business people taking Amtrak and Metrolink.

In the case of these new buildings, people who live this close to a train station are probably of a mind to use it. Its so convenient they would be stupid not to... and why would they pay the high rent to live there? You can get places on the subway a few steps from your apartment, and you can take a weekend trip to San Diego or Santa Barbara without any hassle. You don't have to get in your car and drive to a suburbian station. This is really a good thing: it is built-in ridership, and these city dwelling folk will be more interested in rail transit improvements because it impacts them directly.

Personally, I welcome the idea of making city living more attractive and slowing down the sprawl of suburbia all over the country.

My only concern is that these buildings do not overshadow the station... they are supposed to be within 5 stories high, which is much preferable to a 20 or 30 story structure which would cast a huge shadow upon Union Station and obscure it forever. Locking in short structures now prevents someone from building an ultra modern 100 story skyscraper on this parcel.

Of course, if they have residental units at this location, someone should look into support services. Where is the closest grocery store and drug store to this complex? One within walking distance would do well.

How big is that building between the depot and the port in San Diego?

Crashela.

How does this hurt transit? As Crash put it and quite well I might add this is about putting people and jobs close to transit rather than spreading it all over creation, many places Metrolink and Amtrak will never go.
Don't worry, they're not gonna tear your pretty choo-choo station .... yet.


TCS - shareholder by way of SP and Frisco.