Dead in Eagle Rock

The Los Angeles Times has an interesting piece today about an abandoned loft project in Eagle Rock on Colorado boulevard that local residents say is an eyesore and danger, and that the article’s author is using as an icon of the recent real estate bust. The 17-loft project was started on a triangle of land that had previously seemed impervious to development…big columns went up, but then heavy rains came down and things seemed to crumble:

Today, a half-built, block-long still life of concrete and rebar has supplanted the grass and ivy. Cinder-block walls are tagged with graffiti. Trash — a crumpled milk jug, a condom wrapper — is caught in the weeds. All of it is framed by 40 towering pillars. The developer says the project is effectively dead. It’s unclear whether anyone — the developer, the lender, the city — has the wherewithal or the inclination to do anything about it. Neighbors fear the site could stay this way for years; seeking some sort of progress, they are planning to sprinkle the site with morning glory seeds.

Next to downtown, Eagle Rock is one of the neighborhoods where I consistently have seen the most price drops and homes lingering on the market. The article describes the area as a “village” and an alternative to Los Feliz, Silver Lake, or even Glendale and Pasadena.

Eagle Rock stumbled into a terrible decline in the 1970s. In the ’90s, it began to ascend, fueled by millions of dollars in public and private investments — and a wave of artists and bohemians priced out of the beach and unimpressed with the hip scenes of Los Feliz, Silver Lake and Echo Park. Along with counterculture types who’d never left, they sought to create a different sort of community on what might be called an urban seam — not quite city, not quite suburb; edgier and funkier than nearby Glendale and Pasadena, but more forgiving and artsy than the metropolitan center to the south.

I think all that is true, but when it comes down to it, real estate really is location, location, location. Eagle Rock’s alternative vibe – the very thing that drew many there in the first place – also makes it a “not for everyone” kind of place, and I think that’s really hurting real estate values right now. Here’s a few places for sale near this lot:

• A 2/1 for $339,900 – its a 2/1 with 995 square feet.
• This cute bungalow is a 2/2 for $449,000 and 1,144 square feet.
• This is a short sale north of Colorado Blvd. It’s listed at $475,000 for a 2/2.
• And here’s a cute traditional for $499,000, making it a very low $293 per square foot.