10th and K Progress

A few months ago we heard that the old Woolworth Building would contain a cabaret theatre venue for the California Musical Theatre, along with a (Carnegie Deli style, yum!) restaurant and lounge by Paragary for phase I of the project by Taylor and the CIM Group. If you have walked by the site recently you can see the building boarded up (well more boarded up than it used to be) with interior demo taking place.

Phase two was going to be a 14-story 130 unit mixed use building on the remaining site, looks like that number has jumped up based on Bob Shallits latest column to 21 stories and 158 units.

CIM and David Taylor are hoping to have the DDA in place by December and thus acquire the 3 remaining parcels at 10th and K that the city has own for 10 years or so. Previous attempts at development over the years included a huge multiplex, a California News Station start up, an Old Navy, and most recently before this a CineArts Theatre.

This is a pretty darn solid team though. Taylor has completed a lot of buildings in downtown and CIM is a deep pocketed national developer with many projects under their belt, including 800J here in downtown. PLUS they have their own financing arm of their company that makes financing pretty easy for them.

The building across the street the rest of article mentions is also undergoing renovation. I've always found that building kinda interesting, but not really in a good way. It's an odd looking building with very few windows. Seems like that would be a draw back to some potential buyers, but then again being so close to the Capitol is a big advantage.

Pieces are slowly coming together on K Street. The addition of Ella's in the new Cathedral Building, along with these projects should add some foot traffic and synergy to the area. I still want to see another small theater somewhere on K Street though. There was also talk of KHTK locating on the 1100 or 1200 block. I'm sure Imax, Pyramid Brewery (GOOD beer, eh food), The Crest (old faithful), Ambrosia (good, but could be so much more), Chops (pretty good steaks) and others are counting the days down. I personally really want to see the marquee the new theatre will have. I love those things!

Now if the city can just get the 700 and 800 block out of the courts...

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Bob Shallit: Condos join plan for 10th, K revival
By Bob Shallit - Bee Columnist

Developers working on a cabaret and restaurant complex at the corner of 10th and K have even bigger plans for three adjacent parcels: They want to build a 21-story condo tower there.

The developers -- David S. Taylor Interests and the CIM Group of Los Angeles -- have an exclusive right to negotiate with the city for the three parcels, on the south side of K Street between 10th and 11th.

If a just-launched environmental study finds no serious problems, Taylor and CIM hope to sign a development agreement and acquire the parcels in December, says Elle Warner, a VP with Taylor Interests.

Early plans, from architect WRNS Studio of San Francisco, call for a "green" building with 158 for-sale units, Warner says. Most would be about 900 square feet but larger penthouses would occupy the top two floors. No prices have yet been set.

Other downtown condo projects have run into financing problems. But Warner says her group is optimistic.

"There's never been a question about demand," she says. "It's really about putting it all together."

At some point, she adds in reference to the prospects of downtown housing taking off, "the stars will line up."

* * *

Taking off: Meanwhile, work has begun on the cabaret project at the southeast corner of 10th and K -- and at an office condo project on the key intersection's northeast corner.

Removal of hazardous materials began three weeks ago at the future cabaret site, formerly the Woolworth building. The hope, Warner says, is to begin construction this summer on a 200-seat venue for the California Musical Theatre along with a restaurant and lounge to be run by Randy Paragary.

Across the street, at 1001 K, interior demo work is nearly done and the Trancas Fund of St. Helena soon will be launching a building rehab and facelift. End result: Five stories of office condos above a first-floor restaurant, says Jerry Fournier, regional manager for project contractor J.B. Olsen.

City officials have tried for years to spark development at 10th & K. Amazingly, it's finally happening.