High Rise Buildings

New York developer Larry Silverstein and the California State Teachers Retirement System paid $400 million for 575 Lexington Ave., a 35-story office tower in Midtown Manhattan. Silverstein, leaseholder on the World Trade Center office space, and CalSTRS, the second-largest U.S. pension fund, formed the partnership this year and the purchase is its first. Silverstein and CalSTRS said in a statement they would spend as much as $2 billion on commercial properties in the New York area.

For decades a symbol of blight and lost promise, San Pedro's first skyscraper came thundering down Sunday morning in a dusty heap of 1960s-era ruins that city officials and developers hope will symbolize an explosive revitalization of Los Angeles' waterfront. The Pacific Trade Center, an empty eyesore plastered with rental signs since 1990, was demolished to make room for a new ultra-modern condominium high-rise, in the first implosion of a building to occur in Los Angeles in more than a decade.

The movement to place housing near public transportation gains ground in Los Angeles as work begins today on the first high-rise mixed-use project in Koreatown since the Metro Red Line reached it a decade ago. Developers are set to break ground on a $160-million condominium skyscraper over shops at the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and Western Avenue, a western terminus of the Red Line subway connecting downtown to Koreatown and North Hollywood.

Orange County's skyward trend in new housing is getting another boost with the construction of two condominium towers in Santa Ana. Developer Nexus Cos. said Wednesday that construction was underway on the $350-million first phase of Skyline at MacArthur Place, which will include 349 condos in two 25-story towers about a block southeast of the intersection of Main Street and MacArthur Boulevard in the South Coast Metro area.

When the New York developer Related Cos. hired Frank Gehry to design the $750-million first phase of its huge mixed-use project along Grand Avenue, directly across from Gehry's Walt Disney Concert Hall, the deal immediately raised eyebrows -- and more than a few architectural questions. Would Related, which usually works with corporate firms on high-end developments, pull Gehry in the direction of sleek, well-behaved commercialism?

Architect Frank O. Gehry plans to erect a translucent, glass-curtained tower rising 47 stories above his landmark Walt Disney Concert Hall as the centerpiece of the Grand Avenue project, a bold statement that would alter downtown Los Angeles' skyline and reinforce the civic center area as a hub of cutting-edge architecture.

On the same day as the unveiling of Frank Gehry's design for Grand Avenue, a proposal to build two of the nation's tallest condominium towers on the same street in downtown Los Angeles is expected to be announced. But hurdles remain, including approval by public officials, financing and the complex construction challenges that come with erecting skyscrapers in the middle of a big city.

In a move billed as improving public safety in high-rise buildings during a terrorist attack, earthquake or major fire, two Los Angeles city councilmen will introduce a motion today to standardize the training of private security guards and require building owners to improve the guards' working conditions. The proposal by council President Eric Garcetti and Councilman Jack Weiss, aimed at high-occupancy and high-rise structures, was unveiled at a news conference Thursday outside City Hall.

San Pedro, long known as the blue-collar waterfront of Los Angeles, is set to get its first high-rise condominium building as the city's housing boom sweeps into another historic neighborhood. Construction is set to begin in the spring on a 16-story tower at 5th and Palos Verdes streets called Vue. Plans call for 318 units priced from the mid-$300,000s up to $1 million that should be completed by early 2008.

A daredevil climber known as the French "Spiderman" who has scaled skyscrapers around the globe was arrested on a charge of criminal trespass as he tried to clamber up a Houston office building, authorities said. Alain Robert, 43, dashed from a taxi to the 46-story One Houston Center but was stopped as he was starting his ascent. Police said a reporter had tipped them off to Robert's plans. "A tall officer was able to grab his ankles," Houston police spokesman Alan Wright said.