Metro Joint Development: Past, Present, and Future

Please join us for an exciting roundtable discussion focused on the history and future of Metro’s Joint Development Effort, specifically centered on Metro’s recent 10,000 Home Commitment and the release of many project sites for development in an RFQ process in late 2023. Speakers will include representatives from the City of Los Angeles, LA Metro, and various architecture firms that have completed or are in the process of completing Joint Development projects.

Moderator:

Rachel Allen, AIA, FAAR – Founder + Principal, RADAR, Inc. & Senior Fellow, METRO

Rachel Allen grew up in San Francisco and studied architecture at Princeton University. Following graduate school, she worked at Gehry Partners and then won the 2002-2003 Rome Prize in architecture, a yearlong fellowship at the American Academy in Rome. She returned to found the award-winning firm now known as RADAR, Inc, part of the team that won the international competition to redesign Downtown Los Angeles’s landmark park Pershing Square. She was Mayor Garcetti’s Appointee to the HPOZ Board of NELA neighborhood Lincoln Heights, and graduated from ICIC’s executive leadership training program and Goldman Sachs’ 10K Small Businesses Program. She lectures widely and has taught architecture for Cal Poly Pomona, the Mountain School of Art, SCI-Arc, UCLA, UC Riverside, USC, and Woodbury University. In 2023 LA Metro appointed Rachel the first-ever Senior Fellow of its Housing Lab, which is researching ways that Metro might build housing on its land faster, cheaper, and more equitably.

Speakers:

Jenna Hornstock, Hon. AIA|LA – Deputy Mayor of Housing, City of Los Angeles

Jenna Hornstock is the Deputy Mayor of Housing for Mayor Karen Bass. She was previously Deputy Director of Planning for Land Use at the Southern California Association of Governments, where she oversaw its Housing and Economic Empowerment, Inclusive Economic Growth, and Sustainable and Resilient Development departments. She has spent more than two decades in local government with a focus on public/private real estate transactions, affordable housing policy and delivery, and community and economic development, and her experience includes working for LA Metro and the Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles. She is currently on the Board of Community Health Councils and is a former Public Director of the American Institute of Architects Los Angeles. She also serves on the City Planning Commission.

Marie Sullivan – Senior Manager, Joint Development, LA Metro

Marie Sullivan is the Project Manager of Metro’s largest joint development project at the North Hollywood Station which will bring a new transit center, public park, nearly 1,500 housing units, 500,000 square feet of office, and 60,000 square feet of retail to Metro’s 3rd busiest station. She co-authored the Metro 10K plan which solidify Metro’s efforts to build as much housing as possible, as quickly as possible, for those who need it most. This work has set a course for Metro to grow its portfolio to 10,000 homes on Metro-land by 2031. Her previous experience at Metro has included the Bloc / Metro Connection, Metro’s first direct connection from a subway into a private development, and Metro’s partnership with Via, Metro’s first on-demand ride-hailing service. She hails from Denver, Colorado, studied at Pomona College and the University of Southern California, and loves to explore the many neighborhoods of Los Angeles with her husband and two children.

Kristen Fraumeni, AIA – Vice President & Senior Designer, HKS Inc.

Kristen is a Vice-President and Senior Designer at HKS Inc. in Los Angeles, CA. Since joining the firm in 2020 she has practiced commercial mixed-use and multi-family residential architecture. Her previous 10+ years in the industry were spent specializing in hospitality architecture at Gensler, designing projects with a broad global reach. Kristen’s creativity is embedded in a pursuit to create buildings and spaces that elevate and enrich the human experience. She believes utility in architecture is not its sole purpose: aesthetics and the production of beauty are paramount in her work. She is a licensed Architect in California and a LEED GA with an M Arch I from SCI-Arc and a B.S in Architectural Engineering. She thrives in a collaborative atmosphere and embraces evolutions in digital design. She enjoys sharing her knowledge with others and lending professional advice to students through her role as a mentor in the USC Architecture mentorship program. Kristen also serves on the Los Angeles Design Fellowship at HKS. In her current position, Kristen champions all aspects of project design and delivery, guiding the client and working closely with team members and consultants along the project journey.

Brian Lane, FAIA, LEED AP – Principal, Koning Eizenberg Architecture

Brian Lane, FAIA, LEED AP, Principal uses his keen eye for detail and focus on what it is to be a good neighbor to raise the bar on expectations for community architecture. Brian fuses practical knowledge of design and constructibility to anchor experimentation across a range of budgets. He draws upon planning knowledge and strong visualization skills to assist cities and agencies across the LA region in the evaluation of guidelines and regulations, particularly in relation to housing. He is frequently called upon to share his expertise in community forums and public programs and is a member of the Hollywood Sign Board of Trustees.

M. Arch., U of PA // B. Arch. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

Gio Aliano, AIA – Principal, GGLO

Gio is deeply committed to advancing social equity through architecture, focusing on affordable housing, mixed-use community developments, health & wellness, and educational facilities. He has gained valuable experience in modular design working on the City of Los Angeles HHH Innovation Challenge to drive cost and time savings in addressing the City’s unhoused crisis.

Gio’s thoughtful and holistic approach promotes design excellence and ensures that clients’ visions are realized. He believes in forging strong client relationships that lead to long-term meaningful collaboration for the betterment of a project.

Gio is a team player, always finding ways to provide leadership and encourage others to contribute their insight. He believes design is a process that occurs amongst a talented project team, with each member bringing their unique perspective and personal experiences to inform the design. Gio strives to ultimately provide a sense of authorship for everyone on the team.

Scott Baker, PLA – Founding Principal, RELM

A voracious advocate of urbanism, RELM’s Founding Principal, Scott Baker, seeks to engender public life in cities across America. He’s deeply committed to the role transit plays in elevating daily life, reconciling disparate uses and users to create signature destinations. Recent commissions include FBI’s Redstone Innovation Campus in Huntsville, AL; UC San Diego’s Science Research Park (one of two Wexford Science and Technology projects); Liberation Park in East Oakland; and District NOHO, LA Metro’s largest P3 commission. Scott’s ability to synthesize site programming requirements with mobility, circulation, and community benefit makes him a trusted ally for client and project teams alike.

Learning Objectives:

– Socialize Metro’s Joint Development Program with architects, allied design professionals, and the general community
– Lessons learned from previous Joint Development projects – what are the pitfalls and how can we improve as designers in the future?
– Understand Metro’s mission in providing much-needed housing in LA
– Understand the benefits, goals, and challenges of building housing near transit.

Parking & Transit:

AIA|LA encourages everyone to walk, bike, or ride METRO.

Street parking is available, and there are various surface parking lots near Chinatown Central.  Limited street parking is available along Broadway and Hill.  Or, paid parking is available from the parking lots accessible from College Street b/w Hill & Broadway. The venue is also a 5-minute walk from the Chinatown metro stop (Gold line).

The AIA|LA Urban Design Committee Mission Statement

Does anyone care about urban space today? Whatever happened to visionary urban design? Where is the model for Los Angeles? Is there a model for Los Angeles? Isn’t it the architect’s job to design the city? Can we envision and support non-commercialized collective spaces? Can we be radically optimistic about the future without seeming naive? Doesn’t the term “Urban Design” sound banal, academic, and indeterminate? Why is that? Can we change that? Is there political viability for large-scale ambitious planning initiatives? How can infrastructural investment alter and improve the way the city functions? What is the new mayor going to do about homelessness and how can we, as architects, help? Not to say anything about the policy, regulations, and red tape that govern land use, planning, and development, but if we had to say something about it where would we even start? What about the history of redlining, discriminatory lending practices, and segregation that has produced our present urban patterns? Can architects help foster an agenda of spatial equity in the city? Can small-scale interventions be more effective than large-scale propositions in making a more liveable city? How can return on investment be measured, other than in dollars and cents? Mass Timber sounds great, but what’s the story behind the sustainability argument? How can we develop the city more sustainably? Remember all that fuss about the LA River, what’s going on there? Same question, but about the Olympics? How much impact can an individual building have in the life of a city? What are the best practices for designing housing today? How can architects best respond to the current State of Emergency? Can we, as a profession, be more proactive in proposing solutions that we want to see implemented?

The Urban Design Committee believes that we can, and should. Our mission for 2023 is about asking questions, fostering discussions, proposing solutions, and illustrating visions for the future of Los Angeles.

Chair of the AIA|LA Urban Design Committee:

Jonathan Rieke, AIA – Project Leader, West of West & Chair, AIA|LA Urban Design Committee

Jonathan is a Project Leader at West of West, with experience ranging from residential interiors to large-scale ground-up development projects. He is a registered architect in California, Michigan, and Ohio and has previously worked as a designer for several award-winning firms including The Los Angeles Design Group, Bjarke Ingels Group, and Morphosis Architects. Jonathan has held academic positions at the University of Southern California, The Ohio State University, and Kent State University where he was the Schidlowski Emerging Faculty Fellow. Jonathan received his Master of Architecture from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, where he was awarded the James Templeton Kelley Prize for best graduate thesis, and his Bachelor of Science in Architecture from The Ohio State University.

Image Courtesy of West of West.