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Um did you even look at the streetviews? It's not a hypothetical situation, it is a real building in a real neighborhood, that does have a lot of single family homes within the super-block but the arterial streets are lined with buildings between 3-6 stories and kitty-corner from the job site is the 10 story megalith that is the Beverly Center. It wouldn't look weird in that setting, in fact the gas station that currently exists is what looks weird. This building is completely in character with the rest of the neighborhood.
EDIT: In the streetviews ignore the fact that I was looking at Watts when I linked to the site, it is in Beverly Glen.
oh, ok that's different then now that I've seen the links.
there's nothing beautiful or special about the location and surrounding neighborhood to begin with. its just low-grade generic sprawl. so adding a 5 to 10 story building on the corner isn't going to make it look any worse. I don't see what they're complaining about. if anything, the building looks like an aesthetic improvement compared to the stuff around it.
It would be cool to do a photoshop challenge, preferably for those in L.A., take a pic of a certain area of the city, and show what you believe it would look like in 50 years..
oh, ok that's different then now that I've seen the links.
there's nothing beautiful or special about the location and surrounding neighborhood to begin with. its just low-grade generic sprawl. so adding a 5 to 10 story building on the corner isn't going to make it look any worse. I don't see what they're complaining about. if anything, the building looks like an aesthetic improvement compared to the stuff around it.
I agree that part of town is awful from a walkability standpoint and is generally not very attractive to me (though I do like the SFH's on the side streets).
Actually - here's the deal. Home owners are amazingly risk averse. They fear the loss of something much more than they anticipate a possible gain. They almost always over estimate negative impacts and almost never factor in positive impacts on a potential development. This is common - we aren't entirely rational actors in the market place. There are always stories horror stories that people tell in any community about the horrible building that did x,y and z to the neighborhood. But these are almost always exceptions and not rules and that well developed multi-story buildings can work very very well in a neighborhood context and do is some of the great neighborhoods all over the world.
The question is, why do we give such risk aversion so much weight.
Different people want different things. Some homeowners are cheerleaders for dense, urban development. Others don't want it. I think it depends more on your personal circumstances more than anything. I think parking is generally the number one subject of dispute when it comes to "densifying" a neighborhood.
If I had kids that needed to be taken to soccer practice, the mall, violin lessons, etc., I'd probably be a bit upset if a 150 unit building opened up a few blocks away. The same would be true if I worked way out in the suburbs and needed to have a car. I'd be worried about the parking havoc that might occur. On the other hand, if I'm a single and didn't plan on raising kids in the neighborhood (and had no need for a car), I'd probably push for denser development.
Different people want different things. Some homeowners are cheerleaders for dense, urban development. Others don't want it. I think it depends more on your personal circumstances more than anything. I think parking is generally the number one subject of dispute when it comes to "densifying" a neighborhood.
If I had kids that needed to be taken to soccer practice, the mall, violin lessons, etc., I'd probably be a bit upset if a 150 unit building opened up a few blocks away. The same would be true if I worked way out in the suburbs and needed to have a car. I'd be worried about the parking havoc that might occur. On the other hand, if I'm a single and didn't plan on raising kids in the neighborhood (and had no need for a car), I'd probably push for denser development.
I'd say traffic more than parking (since this will surely come with designated underground parking) but yeah, parking is always a biggie. Especially with LA starting to experiment with lowering the parking minimum.
I wouldn't be surprised if they are worried their little side streets will eventually become bypasses for the congested Beverly and La Cienega streets and I do see how that could present a danger. There is a pretty simple solution though, seen here in West Hollywood: http://goo.gl/maps/frpUr (I know these things cost money and the burden shouldn't fall on the homeowner).
Different people want different things. Some homeowners are cheerleaders for dense, urban development. Others don't want it. I think it depends more on your personal circumstances more than anything. I think parking is generally the number one subject of dispute when it comes to "densifying" a neighborhood.
If I had kids that needed to be taken to soccer practice, the mall, violin lessons, etc., I'd probably be a bit upset if a 150 unit building opened up a few blocks away. The same would be true if I worked way out in the suburbs and needed to have a car. I'd be worried about the parking havoc that might occur. On the other hand, if I'm a single and didn't plan on raising kids in the neighborhood (and had no need for a car), I'd probably push for denser development.
I think people with a suburban mindset should move out to a real suburb and stop pretending that the city is not gonna change around them. In other words, just go to the valley..
I think people with a suburban mindset should move out to a real suburb and stop pretending that the city is not gonna change around them. In other words, just go to the valley..
I feel like there is much less opposition to growth in the Valley, honestly. Woodland Hills is eager to upzone and turn into Warner Center into a more walkable Century City Part II and it seems like people love the developments in North Hollywood.
Fun fact: Van Nuys / North Hills have one of the densest census tracts in the city at about 80k ppsm.
What the hell are they complaining about? I know that area well, it's full of 4-5 story apartment complexes. This is what a typical street looks like in that neighborhood:
I doubt they're building anything low-income either. The Beverly Center is an eyesore, but it's one of the most exclusive shopping centers in the city. The street it's on, La Cienega Boulevard, is known as Restuarant Row and contains a good chunk of the city's fine dining options. Traffic isn't even that bad in that area, nothing like nearby Santa Monica Blvd, or the Sunset Strip. A nice mixed-use building would go along way towards increasing the cohesiveness of the area.
Beats a gas station but becomes too prominent in the eyes of homeowners. Some don't want anything taller than the trees. Many suburbs have 40-foot height limits for that reason.
Beats a gas station but becomes too prominent in the eyes of homeowners. Some don't want anything taller than the trees. Many suburbs have 40-foot height limits for that reason.
Right but the point is there is are two huge 10 story buildings literally across the street and the two main roads this would be on the corner of range between 2-6 stories throughout. If this was Winnetka or Burbank I'd understand. Again I would much rather get rid of the gas station, it surely attracts a lot of undesirables like all the gas stations near my place do.
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if anything, the building looks like an aesthetic improvement compared to the stuff around it.
