Dodge Data & Analytics reports that the largest commercial project that entered planning stages in the US in November is a $180 million Los Angeles office building.
What building could that be?
The Los Angeles Times reported that Los Angeles developer GPI Cos. had acquired the shuttered Macy’s store at the former Westside Pavilion shopping center in West Los Angeles. The developer plans to transform the structure into offices “as part of a massive makeover by two separate developers working to turn the failed mall into a high-end haven for tenants in creative fields such as technology and entertainment.”
The GPI project is a separate transaction from one that enabled landlord Hudson Pacific Properties to redevelop the rest of the old mall. Hudson Pacific signed a lease with tech giant Google in January to be its sole office tenant in the complex, the Times reported.
GPI Cos. has renamed the former Macy’s building West End and will substantially alter the midcentury-style structure in a $180-million redevelopment, the published report says.
The overall Momentum Index has staged somewhat of a resurgence over the last few months increasing nearly 15% from its lowest point earlier in the year. In fact, it is currently flirting with a new cyclical high. The month-to-month planning data continues to be lumpy in nature as the presence or absence of large projects leads to greater volatility. Nevertheless, the underlying trend of the Momentum Index continues to suggest that construction activity in 2020 will not crater but will moderately ease relative to this year’s level.
In November, six projects each with a value of $100 million or more entered planning. The leading institutional projects were the $208 million first phase of Virginia Tech’s Innovation Campus in Alexandria VA and the $144 million ThedaCare Orthopedic Center Hospital in Appleton WI.
