What's L.A.'s best project announced in 2022? Vote now!

To say that the last three years have been different would be an understatement. And while the situation regarding public health and the economy continue to change, developers remain undeterred to build new housing, commercial spaces, and everything in-between in Southern California. This past year saw plans emerge for new studio campuses, high-rise complexes, and revamps of staid suburban malls. But which was the biggest project announced in 2022? Vote now in our poll below, or let us know if we missed the right answer in the comment section.

Our poll is open through the end of the year.

Panorama Mall getting a high-rise makeover With Metro beginning work on a 6.7-mile rail line along Van Nuys Boulevard, one of the biggest destinations along the route is slated for some big changes. Primestor Development, owner of the 20-acre Panorama Mall, kicked off plans this year for a 4.5-million square-foot redevelopment of the property, potentially adding more than 3,500 homes, 280,000 square feet of commercial and entertainment uses, 125,000 square feet of offices, 230,000 square feet of medical space, and a 120-room hotel. Planned for implementation over a period of two decades, the project could result in 20- and 30-story buildings which would be some of the tallest in the San Fernando Valley.

Parking, offices, and retail to be replaced with 1,300 homes in Long Beach In his final "Building a Better Long Beach," presentation, now former Mayor/incumbent U.S. Congressman Robert Garcia revealed plans from three of the region's most prolific developers to replace a mix of parking, offices, and commercial uses at the southeastern corner of the city. Onni Group, Carmel Partners, and Holland Partner Group, the developers, are aiming to build projects which would bring a combined total of 1,360 homes to sites located at 6500, 6615 and 6700 E. Pacific Coast Highway. All would include commercial space and parking, complementing the 215,000-square-foot 2nd & PCH shopping center which opened nearby in 2019.

Housing, offices, and lots more pitched for AES Site in Redondo Beach Sure, everyone is talking about "Builder's Remedy" now, but give credit to the one who started it off. Over the summer, developer Leo Pustilnikov dropped jaws in Redondo Beach by filing plans to redevelop the 50-acre AES power plant property near the waterfront with a colossal mixed-use project dubbed One Redondo. The project, if realized, would include more than 2,300 residential units (458 affordable), a hotel, offices, and 22 acres of open space. If you're wondering why notoriously development-averse Redondo Beach would entertain such an application, it's because they don't have much of a choice. Pustilnikov submitted the project to the city when its housing element had not been certified by the State of California, meaning the city temporarily lacked the ability to reject projects that may not comply with existing zoning rules (the aforementioned "Builder's Remedy").

AEG plans nine-figure overhaul of the arena formerly known as Staples Center With the Clippers headed to a brand new venue in Inglewood by 2024, L.A. Live overlord AEG is looking to counter by giving a facelift to the house the team has shared for 23 years with the Lakers and Kings: Staples Cent....sigh....Crypto.com Arena. Big ticket items from this upcoming revamp include the permanent closure of Chick Hearn Court to automobile traffic and new that will provide skyline views from the interior of the arena, as well as general refreshes of digital displays, concourses, restaurant spaces, and clubs. Work will occur in phases through 2024, setting the stage for a subsequent $1-billion overhaul of the surrounding L.A. Convention Center and L.A. Live campus, which will include a new exhibit hall and an expansion of the Ritz Carlton hotel complex.

Soundstages, soundstages, soundstages, and more soundstages At a time when there are more than a half-dozen major streaming services vying for your attention, it's a good time to own soundstages in Los Angeles. And if you don't already have them, the next best thing is having the ability to build them. Among the projects that came to light this year include Bardas Investment Group and Bain Capital Real Estate's $600-million redevelopment planned for the Television Center complex in Hollywood and East End Capital's new campus planned at 6th and Alameda Streets in the Arts District. Even developers that have never ventured into soundstages are starting to dip their toes in the water - most notably, Prologis is considering a production facility at the corner of 7th Street and Alameda in lieu of a logistics hub.

Housing, offices, and retail on Toyota of Hollywood site In the past decades, numerous car dealerships have given way to new residential and commercial developments - but few have matched the ambition of what is planned for the Toyota dealership at 6000 Hollywood Boulevard. The Sullivan family, which owns the dealership, filed plans with the City of Los Angeles this year to redevelop the site with a mixed-use project featuring a 350 apartments, 136,000 square feet of offices, and nearly 24,000 square feet of retail space, highlighted by a 35-story tower which would be one of the tallest in Hollywood. Located just east of the Walk of Fame, the new development would extend a recent development boom which has brought thousands of apartments to the blocks surrounding the Hollywood/Vine subway station.

Related to redevelop Santa Ana's Metro Town Square mall By some measures the largest project on this list, Related California's plans for the Metro Town Square site in Orange County calls for clearing all existing improvements from the 42-acre property. The land would then be subdivided into smaller, walkable blocks, and redeveloped with multiple low-rise and high-rise buildings featuring nearly 4,000 homes, 350,000 square feet of commercial space, and a 250-room hotel. Nearly one third of the property, or 13.1 acres in total, would be left aside as publicly-accessible open space. And more could be coming to the area, with the neighboring South Coast Plaza Village site set to add up to 1,000 homes in a separate development.

Builder's remedy brings apartment blitz to Santa Monica While Leo Pustilnikov may have been the first developer to make use of the builder's remedy in L.A. County, it is Santa Monica's WS Communities that has arguably used it most effectively. WS Communities, as well as a handful of other applicants, have used the process to propose more than 4,000 residential units within the city. These projects include buildings rising up to 15 stories in height - easily eclipsing the height limits imposed by Santa Monica's Downtown community plan. The city, for its part, is exploring legal avenues to block the builder's remedy projects.

Big plans for Marlton Square property At long last, the city seems to have finally figured out to do with Marlton Square. A staff report which has yet to be taken up for a vote recommends that development rights for the long-vacant site on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard should be awarded to Hudson Pacific Properties, which has proposed the construction of a mixed-use project featuring 300,000 square feet of offices, a food incubator, an urban farm, and a location for Tiffany Haddish's Diaspora grocery store. It's the latest twist in a long-running saga for Marlton Square, which has at various point been slated for a shopping center, and prior to Hudson's involvement, a bioscience research facility. Plans for a new office complex may coincide with a redevelopment of the neighboring Baldwin Hills/Crenshaw Plaza mall, which is approved for the construction of new housing and commercial uses.