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Want a handle on everything being built in our ever-changing city? This nifty map—which shows all the recently finished, under construction, and planned development projects in Los Angeles—makes it a whole lot easier to follow along.
Blake Alexander, an agent with JohnHart Real Estate, created the map and updates it daily. Recently finished projects are marked in blue, projects under construction are marked in red, and planned projects are marked in green. Alexander has also included all the Metro rail and light rail stations, which are marked with circular dots (colors correspond to their respective Metro lines and future Metro stations are marked in black). Each of the entries is clickable, and links to a sidebar with any information Alexander could find about the project specifications and the developer, along with relevant links.
Here's a zoomed-in view of the downtown area (it's busy, to say the least!):
And Hollywood:
And the Valley:
Alexander told LAist that he was inspired by maps people had made of downtown and Hollywood on an online forum called the SkyscraperPage. He used those two existing maps (created by forum-ers) as a starting point, and then started adding everything else going on in Los Angeles. Since then, the project has grown exponentially.
"It's sort of like mission creep," Alexander said. "L.A. turned into 'Maybe I'll start adding the Valley, maybe I'll start adding the South Bay... 'Now I'm to the point where it's kind of like Pokemon Go, but for construction nerds. I'll be in an Uber and I'll pass something and I'll be like, 'I got one!' and I'll take out my map and highlight the building and mark it as under construction. It's turned into this whole project."
Keeping the information up to date is no easy task, especially "in this market." Every morning he loads his browser with all the real estate blogs and news sites he reads (he keeps them ranked in order of most to least useful, and Urbanize LAis his favorite) and goes from there. Alexander said that if he skips even a day of updating, he'll often miss multiple projects. "There's just so much in the pipeline," he added.
So what drives him to spend so much time on the project? "Part of it is construction nerd-ism, and just being a big fan of urbanization and the city and development and wanting to see it really come into its own," he said. "I also have clients who are asking me about different areas that are up and coming," he added, explaining that the map makes for a useful tool for illustrating what neighborhoods are home to future construction.
