New financial agreements have finally cleared the way

New financial agreements have finally cleared the way for the construction of Playa Vista, the troubled but much heralded new urban development in Los Angeles designed by Moule & Polyzoides and Duany Plater-Zyberk. If built as planned, the project could provide a city lacking pedestrian-scale neighborhoods with some of its best urban places. The primary transaction transferred ownership of Playa Vista to the lending group composed of affiliates of Goldman, Sachs Co. and Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, Discover & Co. and Oaktree Capital Management. Additionally, the Union Labor Life Insurance Co. and Pacific Capital Group announced plans to invest in the company. As part of the latter agreement, the estimated $4 billion construction project will provide 100,000 union jobs over a 10 to 15 year period. One financier dubbed the project β€œthe largest contemplated urban mixed-use real estate development in U.S. history.” The 1,087-acre, 13,000-unit project has the potential to be a crowning achievement of New Urbanism. Because it contains one of the last undeveloped wetlands in Southern California, Playa Vista has been opposed by local environmental groups. The reality is that most of the site was previously developed as a Hughes aircraft plant, and a significant portion of wetlands (270 acres) will be restored and preserved. Playa Vista may be the location of a new movie studio for DreamWorks SKG. Construction of the first phase β€” 3,600 residential units and 3.6 million square feet of office and studio space β€” is expected to begin soon.
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