L.A. City Council opposes state housing bills, Judge strikes down Prop 22, and more

Hyundai is planting its flag in El Segundo.

The L.A. Business Journal reports that Hyundai Motor America, the U.S.-based arm of the Korean automaker, has shelled out $70 million to purchase a 90,000-square-foot office building located at 2221 Park Place.  Hyundai will occupy the two-story building, which sits a short walk south of the C Line's Douglas Station.

El Segundo's office market has been buoyed by several recent large leases signed by companies including L'Oreal USA and Beyond Meat.

Things to read from the past week:

Hollywood Boulevard is starting to bounce back. Thank American tourists "Business owners say they’re seeing U.S. tourists with hefty bank accounts, which they attribute to more than a year of deferred travel and government stimulus money. Many travelers got the greenlight to visit when California ended most pandemic restrictions in June, reopening and lifting capacity limits at theme parks, beaches and restaurants." (LA Times)

In the 90s, L.A.’s Concrete Lots Were an Oasis for Skaters "As street skating began to grow in popularity during the early 1990s, L.A. planted the seed for many of the innovations that pushed the sport to new heights. With the 1992 uprising and all of the tension in the city as the backdrop, what was originally an extension of surf culture was transformed into something new that was unique to Los Angeles. What made Los Angeles so special for street skating was the abundance of skate spots." (LA Taco)

LADOT Annual Bikeway Mileage Installation Up in FY20-21, Buoyed By Resurfacing "Annual new and upgraded bikeways above 50 miles for first time in six years - including some great new facilities - but also a lot of minimal upgrades" (Streetsblog LA)

CA High-Speed Rail Authority Approves Plan for Connection into L.A. County "From Bakersfield, building south requires crossing the Tehachapi Mountains, which isn’t easy or cheap. The plan calls for nine tunnels, totaling over ten miles, and fifteen miles of aerial structures." (Streetsblog California)

Metro CEO Outlines Priorities for Transit System "Regional Connector and the station portal at First Street and Central Avenue are in the final stages of construction with completion set for 2022. Key parcels at Mangrove and above the station are set for joint development. In particular, during visioning sessions, the Little Tokyo community has looked to Mangrove, at the northeast corner of First and Alameda streets, as one of the last parcels of publicly owned land in the historic neighborhood." (Rafu Shimpo)

Landlords across U.S. jacking up rents at record pace "After weakening early in the pandemic as the economy faltered and young people rode out lockdowns with family, the rental market is now seeing record demand. The number of occupied U.S. rental-apartment units jumped by about half a million in the second quarter, the biggest annual increase in data going back to 1993, according to industry consultant RealPage Inc. Occupancy last month hit a new high of 96.9%." (Daily News)

L.A. City Council opposes state bills for multi-family homes in single-family zones "SB9 allowed lots zoned for single-family housing to have up to four units and a total of eight market-rate units. SB10 allowed approval of multi-family buildings with up to 10 market-rate units on lots that are zoned for single-family homes only." (KNX1070)

Judge Strikes Down California's Prop 22, Which Treated Gig-Workers as Contractors "The ballot initiative came in response to California's legislature passing AB-5 in 2019, a bill that would have mandated full benefits for gig workers. Rideshare and delivery companies including Uber, Lyft and Instacart spent hundreds of millions of dollars on the campaign to exempt app-based jobs from AB-5 by helping to pass Proposition 22 in 2020." (Newsweek)