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Broadway Revival: Los Angeles Conservancy Plan Evaluated by ULI LA Advisory Services Panel

December 6, 2000

With the city's largest concentration of old movie palaces, Broadway was once the center of the entertainment and retail corridor in downtown Los Angeles. Today Broadway between 3 rd and 9 th Streets is the first and largest Historic Theater District in the National Register of Historic Places. But it remains an unappreciated urban treasure in the historic core of Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles Conservancy has prepared an action plan that lays the groundwork for a long-term program of investment and improvement in revitalizing Broadway as a lively entertainment and residential center in the downtown area. The Local Advisory Services Panel of ULI LA, a service to community and private organizations, conducted its first panel assign-ment for the Los Angeles Conservancy at an all-day session on May 20. The Panel was chaired by Wayne Ratkovitch of The Ratkovitch Company and included Ronald Altoon of Altoon + Porter Architects; Austin Anderson of ERA; William Fain of Johnson Fain Partners, Architects; Stuart Ketchum of Ketchum Real Estate Investments; and James Hankla, CEO of the Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority.

Following a tour of the area and some of the prominent movie theaters, the Panel convened to address several issues raised by the Conservancy relating to its action plan and "vision" for Broadway. Key issues included: the role of adaptive reuse housing in the core area; the potential for broadening the appeal of the area given its special market niche as a Hispanic shopping area; potential physical improvements needed; and next steps for implementation of the action plan.

The Panel developed several recommendations relating to physical improvements; a "vision and identity for Broadway; and specific needs and next steps for the Conservancy to take in implementing its vision for the area. Of particular importance were the needs to:
  • Understand the disparate markets in the downtown area and identify the realistic ultimate markets for the core area over a longer term.
  • Examine past failures and successes in downtown and establish an appropriate vision for the area focussing on the history of the area, the urban character of street, and the "City experience."
  • Identify and establish a broad collective group of champions who share a vision for Broadway with strong participants from both the public and private sectors.
  • Establish a committed manage-ment group to spearhead the effort.
  • Think big - act in the context of a larger vision for the area with incremental actions and improvements.
  • Concentrate efforts in a one-to-two-block area.
  • Identify and confront physical and market constraints and - importantly - the external problems of the area by seeking to turn them into opportunities, and develop from this a realistic perspective as to what are achievable goals for the Conservancy.
  • Make Broadway and the historic core district unique - look at principles, not form of develop-ment, that have worked elsewhere and adapt them to what this area can become.
  • Identify financial tools and the realistic role of public agencies in the process.
  • Emphasize the "cause" - the future users of Broadway's great treasures are the ones who will ultimately guide strategy and implementation, and, most critically, will become the leaders and champions necessary to fulfill the vision.

James Regan is a Principal and Director of Consulting Activities with Wald Realty Advisors, and Jon Curtis is a Partner with the law firm of Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton. They are co-chairs of the ULI LA Local Advisory Services Panel program.
© 2005 ULI Los Angeles