Kim Kardashian's Skims sets up HQ in Hollywood, Treegate, and more

While office landlords are getting nervous across Los Angeles County, the J.H. Snyder Company is breathing a sigh of relief in Hollywood.

Kim Kardashian's shapewear brand Skims made national headlines this week for its $4 billion valuation and newly discovered ability to stanch gunshot wounds. But at a local level, the company was in the news for leasing J.H. Snyder's 116,000-square-foot office building at 1601 N. Vine Street to use as its new headquarters. The eight-story building previously housed a WeWork.

While high-speed rail service between Southern California and Las Vegas is at least seven years away, there is at least one other way to get between the two regions without hopping behind the wheel of a car.

This week, Megabus announced that it has increased service on its route between Los Angeles and Las Vegas to four daily trips. Megabus also offers routes connecting to Anaheim, Barstow, and Riverside.

“Over the past two months, we’ve seen growing interest in trips between LA and Vegas,” said Megabus vice president Colin Emberson.  “As demand builds, we’re always looking for opportunities to increase our schedules and offer more convenient travel options for our customers.” 

Schedules and tickets can be found at https://us.megabus.com/.   

On a personal note, this past week marked 10 years since the publication of the first post on Building Los Angeles, the immediate predecessor of Urbanize. Hard to believe that I've been at it for this long now, but I'm happy that this passion project remains alive and well. Thank you all so much for reading and following, fellow real estate, architecture, and urban planning nerds!

Here's what we're reading this week:

120 New Apartments For Unhoused Veterans Were ‘Move-In Ready.’ Months Later, Most Sit Empty "When LAist asked in recent days, agencies involved in overseeing the apartments and approving veterans for the housing gave several reasons, some of which contradicted each other." (LAist)

Top 10 Cities Americans Would Move To If ‘Money Was No Object’ LA is number one. However, money is, unfortunately, an object. (GBR)

LA's Summer Olympics Are Just Five Years Away. Here's Where Preparations Stand "July 14th marked five years out from the opening ceremony for the 2028 Summer Olympic Games in L.A. Planning is begin to ramp up, as the city anticipates an influx of thousands of spectators and athletes from around the world. " (LAist)

Real estate developer in Huizar bribery case sentenced to six years in prison "In 2015, Lee proposed the construction of a $170-million high-rise a few blocks east of the L.A. Live entertainment complex. His project soon drew opposition from a group of construction trade unions, which threatened to slow or halt the approval process for his project, adding millions in additional development costs....Lee agreed to provide Huizar, who represented much of downtown and wielded enormous power over real estate decisions, a cash bribe to ensure that the council member would oppose the union challenge, prosecutors said." (LA Times)

Missing Metro Regional Connector First/Last Mile Facilities Worse Than Reported Earlier "Metro and LADOT quietly omitted and downgraded extensive bike and walk improvements approved and funded for Little Tokyo - in addition to omissions at Grand and Broadway stations" (Streetsblog LA)

Treegate Update: No Permit Was Pulled To Trim Ficus Trees Outside of Universal’s Gate 8, Says City Controller Striking writers/actors and LA's Urban Forestry Division: the crossover event we've all been waiting for (Deadline)

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