Wilshire Center/Koreatown Revitalization Project

WilshireCenterAguirre,

Introduction

Located to the West of Downtown Los Angeles, the Wilshire Center/Koreatown Redevelopment Plan was formally adopted by the Los Angeles City Council on December 13, 1995 in response to the devastation created by the 1992 riots and the social and economic blight that plagued the area ever since. The Wilshire Center/Koreatown Project Plan encompasses over one thousand acres and is bordered by 5th Street on the North, 12th Street on the South, Hoover Street on the East, and Western Avenue and Wiltern Place on the West. The area project area also includes Vermont Avenue between the Hollywood Freeway (US-101) on the North and 12th Street on the South.

The purpose for this paper is to illuminate the development of the pro-growth coalitions that were created for the management of the Wilshire Center/Koreatown Redevelopment Project. To do this, I will first begin with a historical retelling of the area now known as the WilshireCenter, followed by an explanation of the process of re-building the WilshireCenter area focusing on the individuals and organizations involved and their contributions to the Project. Finally I will end with a brief rundown of the projects lined up to take place in the future.

WilshireCenterAguirre,

Table of Contents

Introduction ………………………………………………………….1
Prominent People in the History of Wilshire Boulevard ..…………...?
The Wilshire Center/Koreatown Redevelopment Project
- A Plan for Growth …………………………………………………?
Future Projects……………………...……………………………….?
Works Cited ………………………...……………………………….?
Appendix ………………………...…………………………………..?
Organizations and Individuals Involved
Timeline
Wilshire Center/Koreatown Recovery Redevelopment Area Map
Diagram of Structural Limitations
Diagram of Proposed Use of Buildings
Diagram of Available Open Space and Street Layout

WilshireCenterAguirre,

Prominent People in the History of Wilshire Boulevard

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WilshireCenterAguirre,

The Wilshire Center/Koreatown Redevelopment Project – A Plan for Growth

The central Wilshire area of Los Angeles has endured severe changes throughout the years since its golden age in the fifties as the center of the Hollywood’s posh crowds to what some people refer to as one of today’s newly re-emerging business hubs. Mid-Wilshire’s decline actually had its beginning in the 1980s when business executives (of such Fortune 500 companies as IBM) began moving their firms to newer buildings in CenturyCity, Downtown and the San Fernando Valley[1]. The period that followed was one of rising crime rates and increasing societal blight. The long and difficult process of reconstructing a whole community got started in the early 1990s, led by several individuals and organizations who banded together for one common good—to reinvigorate life in the Mid-Wilshire area and revitalize the booming business era that once was.

Throughout the 1980s the Mid-Wilshire population was predominantly Hispanic with an increasing number of Korean-American who made their homes and set up businesses directed at their own population in the area as a result of years of real estate investments by affluent Korean immigrants. Within a matter of time, the only groups who still considered the area a commercial “hub” of Los Angeles were a growing group of second-generation of Korean-American small-business owners who had become more active politically than their Hispanic, Black, and White counterparts. The impact of this involvement in their community’s socio-economic well-being attracted a number of investors.

The Wilshire Center/Koreatown Redevelopment Project was originally the idea of severalindividuals with business interests in the area, but was turned from words to action by: Harrison Klein (former Director of the Korean-American Chamber of CommerceCALL AND GET DATES),Gary Russel (former Director of the Wilshire Business Improvement District CALL AND GET DATES), and Andrew Miliotis (former President of the Wilshire Business Improvement District CALL AND GET DATES). With the Cooperation of other business owners in the community these men drew up the preliminary drafts for the Mid-Wilshire area and created the first Business Improvement District in an attempt to meliorate the area’s tainted image which came as a direct result of the 1992 riots and lootings.The first program was the construction of the Metro Red Line; in 1993 planning began for the six million dollar Streetscape Project with the planting of more than two thousand trees, repaving of sidewalks, and the construction of new street medians.[2] The Wilshire Center and Koreatown Redevelopment Project Area was adopted by the city of Los Angeles in December 1995, followed by the formation of the Wilshire Center Business Improvement Corporation and the approval ofthe WilshireCenter Business Improvement District by the Los AngelesCity Council in the same year.[3]

The primary step in the process of revitalization was to try to do away with the name “Mid-Wilshire” and all the negative connotations attached to it to a more respectable name, thus was the rechristening of the area as the Wilshire District; soon after, several projects which advanced the redevelopment plans were put into action, these included the completions of the Metro Red Line – which was partly to blame for the business flight that took place as a result of the chaos and destruction it caused during its building stages –, The Streetscape Project, and the problematic acquisition Ambassador Hotel by the Los AngelesUnifiedSchool District.

THE STREETSCAPEPROJECT
-Building Coalitions-

In January 1993, the day that the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authorityintroduced the Red Line, its newest addition to the Metro Rail system, they also opened the door to new investment and business prospects for the WilshireCenteras traveling in and out of the areawas now more manageable and convenient. Now that Mid-Wilshire had a new subway system and a new name, the next step was to revitalize the aesthetic and physical feel of the area. For this, The WilshireCenter Business Improvement Corporation (WCBIC), headed by Gary Russell and Andrew Miliotis began plans for the construction of street medians in which tress and plants would be used for the visual enhancement of Wilshire Boulevard between Hoover Street and Wilton place.

This project led to the formation of a new city council committee rightly named the Streetscape Committee of the Wilshire Chamber of Commerce – whose primary goal was to raise the funds needed to purchase seeds and the necessary tools – as well as a coalition made up of architects, engineers, and city planners who would design a study to determine whether or not the Streetscape Project was feasible.

Within six years, the Streetscape Committee managed to collect a total of six million plus dollars in grant money from different sources involved in the redevelopment plans; $1,412,800 from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA), and $2,075,000 from its Proposition C Discretionary Fund. The City of Los Angeles contributed $425,000; $200,000 came from the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency; $1.4 million from the Federal Economic Development Agency; and $125,700 from private funds[4] (such as the Wilshire Chamber of Commerce and Portals House, a non-profit organization).

Attracted by the area’s accessibility, population density, as well as a dramatic drop in the crime rate, many businesses began to return and set up shop along the WilshireCenter. In 1994 the Bullocks Wilshire was purchased by SouthwesternSchool of Law for use of its library; in 1996 the Roman Catholic Archdiocese established their headquarters on Wilshire Boulevard; and in 1999, the Aroma Spa and SportsCenter, the largest of its kind – complete with a golf range and retail shops – opened its doors.

THE AMBASSADORHOTEL
-A Battle of the Trenches-

The Ambassador Hotels, located in the heart of the WilshireCenterwas once the playground for Hollywood’s socialites, from Charlie Chaplin to F. Scott Fitzgerald, who frequented the famous Cocoanut Grove night club. Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio stayed there, as did Albert Einstein, who once called the front desk to complain of a fight next door which turned out to be between boxer Jack Dempsey and his new bride, whom he was apparently trying to throw out the window.[5] Robert Kennedy’s assassination was the final blow that led to its closure in 1989. Since it shut its doors to the public, the Ambassador Hotel has been the subject of long history of controversy involving the Los AngelesUnifiedSchool District’s multiple attempts at fighting for the property rights, resident Wilshire Center businesses who have opposed the District’s plans to build a high school in its place since it made them public, and several prominent urban developers, among them Donald Trump, Magic Johnson, and Alan Casden,[6] each of whom had different ideas for use of the Ambassador site.

In 1989, the J. Myer Schine family, original owners of the Ambassador Hotel, sold the property to the WilshireCenter Partners (formerly the Anglo-Wilshire Partners and known today as the WilshireCenter Marketplace). In that year, real estate mogul Donald Trump purchased the Ambassador in hopes to tear it down and construct the city’s tallest skyscraper in its place. The L.A.UnifiedSchool District got involved in 1990 when it placed a forty-eight million dollar deposit in a State Trial Court toward the purchase price of the property. In August of 2000, the District tried to force a foreclosure on the Ambassador property to recover its deposit money which had already been spent by the Ambassador’s new owners, the WilshireCenter Marketplace, to pay off their bankruptcy debts.

In 1998, new plans to develop the Ambassador Hotel into a $250 million entertainment complex were unveiled as the LAUSD diverted its attention into building the BelmontLearningCenter south of Downtown Los Angeles. Proponents of the plans (which included the Wilshire Center Marketplace and a majority of residents and business owners in the area) stated that an entertainment complex would bring “new life to a long-suffering stretch of Wilshire Boulevard.”[7]

The LAUSD was finally given the “okay” by Los Angeles District Courts in 2001 to move ahead with its plans to build a two thousand student facility, but a year later, the District was faced yet another challenge for the property rights to the Ambassador when the Social Security Administration announced its intentions to open a service center at the site and at the expense of the District. In 2003 plans fell through for the SSA and the District got control of the Ambassador property once again.

Today, after more than a decade of debate, the Ambassador Hotel faces a certain doom at the hands of the LAUSD for its decision to demolish the historic building and construct a brand new structure on top. The LAUSD's $318 million plan, called the Heritage K-12 plan, is being billed as a compromise between conserving history and relieving overcrowded schools. Most of the hotel will be destroyed, but a few historic elements will be preserved.[8] The new plans include: a remodeling of the north side facade of the new schoolsto resemble the hotel's Wilshire Boulevard profile; the hotel's Paul Williams-designed coffee shop will become the teachers' lounge, and the Embassy Ballroom will be rebuilt as a library with its original ceiling preserved. The famous Cocoanut Grove nightclub will be converted into the school auditorium. In response to criticism by the WilshireCenter Community, LAUSD officials said,“fully restoring the structure could add a year of construction time and at least $50 million to the price tag.Most of the buildings are poorly constructed or damaged beyond repair. The ceilings are too low, the windows are too small, the paint is lead-based, and the walls are filled with asbestos.”[9]

***

WilshireCenterAguirre,

Future Plans

The Courtyard, MaDang:

A four-story 100,000 square foot retail/entertainment center, anchored by Woo Lae Oak restaurant, a Japanese or Chinese bistro, sports bar, media or book stores and a three screen movie theater is scheduled to open across the Street from the Western/Wilshire Metro station and the historic Wiltern Theater in July 2004. Young Choi of Woo Lae Oak restaurants, is the developer and principal architect is David Kim, of Immersiv Companies.

Equitable Plaza:

Gruen & Associates is developing a $20 million,160,000 square foot retail and restaurant complex, anchored by a high-end market & department store, with a main entrance on 6th Street, 340 underground parking spaces and a passageway to the tower.

Wilshire & Vermont:

Urban Partners ( ) will develop up to 390 units of multi-family affordable and market rate housing, commercial stores and a Los AngelesUnifiedSchool District middle school on the seven-acres around the Wilshire & Vermont Metro Red Line Subway Station property. The project design was prepared by the Los Angeles office of Arquitectonica, an internationally recognized design firm. Design and planning for the project will be completed in 2003, with construction taking place in 2004 and 2005. In 2006, the project will be complete.

Ambassador Hotel site:

The LAUSD has also contracted Urban Partners to prepare an EIR for theAmbassador Hotel site. There are five options being considered for the development including multiple school facilities (1-4) and schools combined with a mixed-use development (5). In early February, a draft of the EIR will be available along with an outline of the costs for each of the five options and an RFQ for design of the project. The School Board will make a decision on one of the five options in June/July 2003.

Wilshire & Western:

MTA is in negotiations with KOAR LLC (dba WilshireEntertainmentCenter), with Archeon Group as the architects, for 50,000 square feet of retail, 180 residential units from 1-3 bedrooms, underground parking and rental storage units. KOAR’s previous projects include: The Harbor Palace Tower in Long Beach (mixed-use residential & retail), The Pasadena Hilton (mixed-use hotel & office) and MontanaPlaza in Santa Monica (mixed-use office & retail). The Sav-On Pharmacy on the corner of Wilshire & Oxford will remain and all other retail and commercial space on Oxord & 6th Street will be redeveloped as part of this complex.

Aroma Spa and FitnessCenter

WilshireCenterAguirre,

Works Cited

[1]Los Angeles Times.: April 16, 1999. pg.1

[2] Streetscape sheet

[3] The Wilshire Center Business Improvement Corporation's (WCBIC) is the Advisory Board to City of Los Angeles for the Wilshire Center Business Improvement District (WCBID).

[4]WilshireCenter/Koreatown Redevelopment Project Five-year Implementation Plan 11/16/00 – pg. 6

[5]Daily News. Oct. 24, 2001. pg.1

[6]Los Angeles Times. Nov. 29, 2001. pg.B1

[7]Los Angeles Times. Nov. 28, 1998. pg.C1

[8]Daily News. Oct 13, 2004.pg.N1

[9]Daily News. Oct 13, 2004.pg.N1