Category Archives: Urban LAndscape

By: Jack Skelley, Paolucci Communication Arts Urban Land Institute Los Angeles District Council and UCLA Ziman Center for Real Estate are teaming-up again for VantageForum 2012, the second annual innovative real estate conference offering live interaction with influential local, regional and national authorities, industry leaders and real estate executives. VantageForum returns Wednesday, March 21, 2012 from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at UCLA’s Covel Commons. Unlike any other real estate conference in Los Angeles, VantageForum 2012 offers attendees the opportunity to interact with senior leaders from a mix of industries … READ MORE

Interviewer: Vicky Hammond With a passion for city building, Amy J. Bodek, AICP, has managed the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency’s staff and budget for the past three years as its Executive Director. She concurrently serves as the City’s Director of Development Services, overseeing planning, affordable housing development, building & safety, code enforcement and neighborhood services functions. She is a certified planner with the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP), and an active member of the Urban Land Institute. With the state of California in the midst of dissolving redevelopment agencies, … READ MORE

By: Dennis Kaiser, ValleyCrest Landscape Companies Developers are born risk takers. It is just something that’s inherent to their chosen avocation. But underlying the nature of the business is an entrepreneurial spirit that often gets either overlooked or downplayed. Not so in the case of AEG, the development entity behind L.A. LIVE which served as a backdrop to the Urban Land Institute’s successful “ULI Live” Fall Meeting in October. “Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa recently pointed out at the ULI Fall Meeting in L.A. that six years ago, when the … READ MORE

Urban Landscape, September 2010 Feature Article By: Vicky Hammond While an urbanists’ vocabulary might not typically include the term “mall,” the new Santa Monica Place provides a strong argument that “mall” and “urban” can be redefined to compliment each other. Located in the heart of Santa Monica, Calif. and originally designed by architect Frank Gehry, Santa Monica Place was a typical suburban-style, enclosed mall. It first opened in 1980 and was renovated twice before it was purchased by Macerich in 1999. Macerich, one of the country’s leading owners, operators and … READ MORE

By Neal Payton, AIA If the 440 attendees of ULI-LA’s TOD Summit, held on June 4, 2010, are any indicators, the real estate and development community of Los Angeles is embracing transit-oriented development (TOD) to a degree unimaginable as recently as five or six-years ago. Back then one might have expected one-fourth of that number, made up of the “usual suspects, i.e., transit advocates, urban planners, and a few innovative developers sitting around preaching to each other about the benefits of TOD, and wringing their hands over why we can’t … READ MORE

By Allan Mackenzie and Frank Zerunyan A variety of public private partnerships (PPPs) have been created in the United States for transportation and utility infrastructure projects, but PPPs for social infrastructure — civic buildings, schools, libraries, police departments, courthouses and hospitals — have been slow to materialize, especially at the state and local level. That is due in large part to Government agencies’  unfamiliarity with the delivery method, their focus on front end versus lifecycle costs, lender intransigence, and their long-standing use of tax-exempt financing mechanisms. However, all of that … READ MORE

“The city came into being to preserve life, it exists for the good life.” – Quote from the ceiling frieze in the Tom Bradley Tower Room Attendees heading to the 1000 Homes Supportive Housing Innovation Awards on June 24, expected to see Los Angeles from a special perspective – the event was being held the in the Tom Bradley Tower Room at City Hall. The views of the urban landscape from the balconies did not disappoint, yet it was the opportunity see another side of city life in a new … READ MORE

Feature Article By Jack Skelley, Paolucci Communication Arts The catalytic power of Transit Oriented Developments (TODs) is well-known: Hollywood’s snowballing economic development, for example, includes diverse densities surrounding well-designed transit hubs.  But not all TODs were created equal. So ULI Los Angeles has been conducting a series of TOD Technical Assistance Panels (TAPs) to re-strategize under-performing transportation centers to help them achieve full potential. The first of these workshops – led by volunteer urban-design professionals – recently presented its findings at the Slauson Avenue Blue Line station. One key proposal … READ MORE