Those who got excited about a report last month showing that Los Angeles rents actually dropped off between July and August are in for a letdown this month. An analysis of pricing data from Apartment List shows that rents in Los Angeles rose just under a half-percent in September.
That’s only a slight increase, but it’s part of why prices have risen 3.1 percent since last year. That rate significantly outpaces the national average of 2.1 percent over the same time period.
In other parts of the metropolitan area, prices since last year have risen even more dramatically—particularly in Orange County. Rents in Fullerton, Anaheim, and Costa Mesa shot up more than six percent, with a median one-bedroom in the latter city fetching $1,680 per month.
Rents also soared last month in Pasadena, increasing by 5.9 percent. One-bedrooms in the City of Roses are now going for more than $2,000, with two-bedrooms asking $2,620. The one-bedroom price is actually higher than in Los Angeles itself, where the median falls at a significantly lower $1,910. Two-bedrooms in LA are priced at $2,630. Source of this article
The LA City Council voted Friday in favor of putting the Neighborhood Integrity Initiative, the anti-megadevelopment measure, on the ballot in March. The initiative would impose a two-year moratorium on the majority of big projects. It would also ban most “spot zoning” and other amendments. The group of backers behind the Neighborhood Integrity Initiative is spearheaded by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the Los Angeles Business Journal reports. The LA City Clerk’s office officially certified the measure last month, making it eligible for the ballot after its backers turned in 104,000 signatures. Just 62,000 were needed. The measure is opposed by many developers and business organizations. [LABJ]
Today’s lending market is getting more conservative because of all the regulation and it seems to take more work to get deals done, according to the executives at Bisnow’s recent Annual Multifamily Conference in LA.
AIG Global Real Estate president and CEO Douglas Tymins, Cusumano Development CEO Michael Cusumano, The Bascom Group managing partner Jerome Fink, Mosaic Real Estate Investors managing partner and co-founder Vicky Schiff, and Allen Matkins partner Mark Hartney made up the panel discussing lending. One of the biggest challenges is how competitive the market is, according to Mike. Vicky said the greatest challenge is making sure “our borrowers have the ability to execute the business plan.”
There are also financial challenges when it comes to affordable housing, according to Highridge Costa Housing Partners CEO Michael Costa. In the past 25 years, it’s grown “exponentially more difficult” to develop affordable housing, Michael said. Bank of America SVP Charmaine Atherton said one of the indicators is what the capital stacks look like now. It used to be possible to get money and land from the Community Redevelopment Agency and then possibly money from the city. These days it’s more like six sources is standard, she said. Charmaine has done deals with as many as 13 sources, which “makes it complicated and takes a long time,” she said.
The panelists, including Affirmed Housing CEO Jim Silverwood and moderator AGH principal of real estate advisory services Wes Hudson, also discussed proposed state legislation, including California Gov. Jerry Brown’s “by-right” housing proposal (which has since failed, but may be reconsidered next legislative session). It proposed bypassing local approvals and allowing by-right development that would include setting aside 20% for affordable housing units in new projects. A sentiment echoed throughout was how the entitlement landscape may change with proposed ballot initiatives, including Build Better LA and the Neighborhood Integrity Initiative.
The Los Angeles Football Club just announced Banc of California will be the naming partner of the club’s new 22,000-seat soccer stadium being built in Exposition Park. It will now officially be known as Banc of California Stadium. Banc of California Stadium will be home to Major League Soccer’s newest team and be the venue for other entertainment and sports events. Banc of California Stadium is the first open-air stadium built in LA in nearly 55 years and is expected to create thousands of jobs. The stadium should be completed in 2018.
Across Downtown, there’s plenty of evidence that construction on Metro’s Regional Connector—a project that will bring three new subway stations to the area and connect the Blue, Expo, and Gold lines—is in full swing.
But in Little Tokyo, which is where one of those new stations is being built, at First Street and Central Avenue, work is about to move off the street and underground, reports Metro’s news blog The Source. It says, “construction at the easternmost end of the Connector’s route is now fully underground and behind barriers.”
In order to reach this project benchmark, workers successfully installed piles and deck panels across the intersection of 1st and Alameda, adjacent to the Gold Line’s existing Little Tokyo/Arts District station.
This progress allows crews to continue mining operations beneath the thoroughfare and make way for the tunnel boring machine and tunneling operations to begin in early 2017.
The Regional Connector hit the Little Tokyo milestone last week. A new video from Metro shows some recent images from the construction site.
Because the work is fully underground now, all lanes of traffic at Alameda and First are once again open. Metro has also added new “high-visibility” crosswalks at the intersection.
Lots of work is going on underground at the site in preparation for the huge tunneling machine to be brought in in early 2017.
The Regional Connector will also bring stations to Second and Broadway and Second and Hope, near the Disney Concert Hall. The project is expected to open in 2021.
