On the West Side of Los Angeles high-density apartments and commercial buildings are being planned. Some locals decry the density stating it will do nothing but add to the already insane traffic causing total grid-lock. Still, developers have the green light now and are going ahead with things. A few opponents of the project are already making signs; "Tear Down this Mall!"
If you look at the high-rise apartments in Florida, New York, San Francisco, Boston, Seattle and elsewhere you do not see outrageous traffic, instead these units are being built in a way that everything you need is within walking distance, so you really do not even need a car at that point.
In Los Angeles some ambitious and aggressive developers, veteran commercial builders are going for a vertical mall. Yes a mall that goes straight up, seven stories. And it's not that it has not been done before, but for LA it's something new. The project will be completed circa 2011 and has the Red Line Subway running underneath it. There will be 100 stores in this mall and a super-plex movie theatre.
Retail all the way up with restaurants and food courts on top. Many urban planners are carefully watching this development and other similar projects are being submitted around the country, question is will this work in LA? Some say no, others say; why not? It will bring good retailing jobs and there are high-rise apartments already nearby, and with the Red Line below folks can get to work by walking or taking the subway.
There is a lot of wealth in the Wilshire Corridor, surely enough to support the mall, but will shoppers come in droves and if they do what traffic will that bring to the already over congested area? This will be very interesting indeed, this is one commercial construction project everyone will be watching and no matter what the predictions on its success, only time will tell.
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