Staples Center gets a new name, Infrastructure week is finally here, and more

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti (freshly recovered from a bout with coronavirus) announced the launch of Global LA, a new non-profit organization with the mission of attracting international business to the region.

“Los Angeles is a global crossroads -- there is simply no better place to start or expand a business than here,” said Garcetti in a statement. “By making it easier for companies, nonprofits, and entrepreneurs to invest in our city, Global LA will attract international opportunities that benefit Angelenos across our city with good paying jobs and a more resilient, inclusive local economy.” 

In concert with the launch of Global LA, Garcetti's office also announced that Vietnam-based electric car company VinFast will locate its U.S. headquarters in Los Angeles. The company is expected to invest $200 million and hire more than 1,000 people after taking advantage of state and federal incentives.

Global LA also intends to offer a similar form of incentives, per the news release.

The initiative is financed by $500,000 in seed funding from the City of Los Angeles. Members listed on the Global LA website include The Walt Disney Company, the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, City National Bank, East West Bank, Evite, Los Angeles Football Club, and WasteFuel.

Another university has inked a deal for a Los Angeles area campus.

Real estate brokerage firm JLL announced this week that Chicago-based DePaul University has signed a lease for 5,600 square feet of space at Sunset Las Palmas Studios in Hollywood.  Located at 6660 Santa Monica Boulevard, the new outpost will serve as the West Coast campus of DePaul’s School of Cinematic Arts for its West Coast Campus.

DePaul, which currently occupies a temporary space, is scheduled to start classes at Sunset Las Palmas Studios in January 2022.

Here's what we're reading this week:

Infrastructure week is finally here. What California will get TL;DR: $80 million to combat wildfires, $40 million to fend off cyberattacks, $9.45 billion for transit, $29.5 billion for roads and bridges, $384 million for EV charging infrastructure, $100 million for broadband, $3.5 billion to improve drinking water, $1.5 billion for airports (LA Times)

Way better than a parking lot: Smart reuse revives Julia Morgan’s Herald Examiner building "For historic architecture in Los Angeles, death can come in one of various ways: fire, earthquake or slow decay ... followed by redevelopment schemes that involve bland luxury condos. But none is quite as ignoble as being razed to make way for a parking lot....That was once the proposed fate for Julia Morgan’s dashingly flamboyant Herald Examiner building in downtown Los Angeles. Completed in 1914, the block-long, Mission Revival structure, with its ornate-to-the-point-of-baroque lobby, represents one of only a handful of L.A. buildings designed by the pioneering architect — the first woman to be licensed to practice architecture in California." (LA Times)

Staples Center to become Crypto.com Arena in reported $700 million naming rights deal "Crypto.com is paying $700 million, according to multiple reports, over 20 years to rename the building. The parties aren't publicly announcing the financial terms of what's believed to be the richest naming rights deal in sports history." (ESPN)

Controller Galperin Finds L.A. City Sidewalk Repair Program in Need of Reforms "Under the 2016 Willits lawsuit settlement, the city committed to spend $1.37 billion over 30 years to address broken sidewalks, inaccessible curb ramps, and other barriers to pedestrian access. Though the city has made some progress since 2016, Galperin found that 'less than one percent of sidewalk parcels have been certified as repaired and there is a backlog of 50,000 sidewalks that need to be fixed.'"

Metro CEO Wiggins Moves Highway Program Under Planning – To Encourage Multimodal Projects "Wiggins’ push to realign freeway project priorities is very much in alignment with changes underway at the state and even federal levels. California’s transportation department Caltrans has been gradually shifting its programs to embrace a complete streets approach, and the California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA) developed an overarching framework (the California State Climate Action Plan for Transportation Infrastructure – CAPTI) to align transportation spending with climate policy. Under the leadership of forward-thinking agency heads, including Wiggins, Caltrans Director Toks Omishakin and CalSTA Secretary David Kim, highway projects are slowly shifting away from a long history of racist harm – into a more holistic future." (Streetsblog LA)

Potential funding shortfall could delay proposed light-rail line from reaching Whittier "Jenny Cristales-Cevallos, project manager for the Gold Line eastside extension, in a Wednesday, Nov. 17,  telephone interview, said the proposed three-mile underground portion in East Los Angeles is part of the reason for concern." (Whittier Daily News)

Coalition seeks more safety along Hyperion Avenue "The Hyperion Street Safety Coalition is made up of local organizations, businesses, tenants, residents, schools, and students who want better access and safety on 1.5 miles of highway between Rowena Avenue and Sunset Boulevard." (Eastsider)

Metro Is Launching a Universal Pass Pilot Program in South LA This Summer "L.A. Metro is rolling out a program that will allow users to do just that in South LA starting next summer. The pilot includes a 'mobility wallet,' an integration with TAP (transit access pass) that enables riders to use the same card to access multiple mobility options in the area." (dot LA)