"First Street Now!" Plan unveiled

New First Street development, streetscape plan by Suisman-Campbell-Rios for Project Restore; strong political support in downtown Los Angeles.

After more than two years of planning and design, Project Restore unveiled the new conceptual master plan for First Street in downtown Los Angeles. The plan was prepared by a consortium of three award-winning firms: Suisman Urban Design, Campbell & Campbell, and Rios Clementi Hale Studios.

On the steps of Los Angeles City, the report was made public by a group of city leaders including Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard, City Councilwoman Jan Perry, MTA head Roger Snoble, Project Restore Chairman Nabih Youssef, and Project Restore’s President Ed Avila.

The working plan, dubbed “1st Street Now,” calls for a walkable urban corridor filled with pedestrian activity benefiting current and future developments along the two-mile stretch of First Street through the heart of the Civic Center and Little Tokyo, over the L.A. River, and onto Mariachi Plaza in Boyle Heights.

“What makes this plan different is that it was created with an open-door policy and that it is already being enacted,” says Project Restore’s Ed Avila. “We have been consulting with myriad community groups and development projects from Bunker Hill to Boyle Heights so that new projects reflect the goals of the entire community.”

The eight main tenets of 1st Street Now are: a continuous green promenade of street trees; four special streetlight designs to accent each neighborhood’s characteristics; paving, crosswalks, streetscape furniture, and signage to increase pedestrian activity; new transit lines—-bus and light rail—-to connect neighborhoods; creation of a Bridge Park over the L.A. River; a new Civic Square garden plaza for Downtown workers, residents, and visitors; streetscape guidelines to be adopted by stakeholders; and a task force to oversee implementation of the guidelines.

Press release report.