Joe Cohen @CohenSite Twitter profile

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Joe Cohen

2 years

You usually only hear business stories from people who are trying to promote themselves. This is the story of Anne M, a woman who “accidentally” bought a small glass business in her 60’s and grew it into the 17th largest glazing company in the US

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Last Seen Profiles

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

10 months

Sometimes a new development just stops you in your tracks. This is a NEW CONSTRUCTION condo complex, not adaptive re-use

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

6 months

My favorite living architect, Jeff Shelton, only designs buildings for Santa Barbara, California

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

1 year

Glass brick windows: - Fire Resistant - Inexpensive - Break-In Proof Why aren't we using these more in apartments?

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

9 months

Imagine having this guy as your permit expediter

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

1 year

This planned building in San Francisco has 57 units on 4300 sq ft

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

9 months

The biggest key to improving your quality of life is living within a five minute walk of a grocery store

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

2 years

I triple dog dare you to convert 33 Thomas Street to residential

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

7 months

Zoning strikes again (from TikTok)

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

11 months

Ther are exactly four S Tier cities in the world: - New York - London - Paris - Tokyo

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

9 months

TIL: The 2028 Los Angeles Olympics are going to be car free. There will be no parking at the venues, and spectators will be expected to take public transit

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

28 days

A few hours after the launch event, my California student housing bill was killed by an unelected Committee Consultant who called it a “developer giveaway” She purposely withheld her proposed amendments to the bill until the last possible minute to make negotiations impossible.…

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

6 months

This has the potential to be one of the highest ridership transit lines in the country, replacing a 50-90 minute drive with a 12 minute subway ride. We can't afford to mess this up

E/Expo Line Ledger

@expolineledger

6 months

“An underground rail would carry nearly twice as many riders as two of the monorail options, mostly because two of the three monorail options would not include stations at @UCLA , a prime destination that is projected to be the busiest station.”

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

5 months

California law prohibits cities from requiring parking for projects within a half-mile of a Major Transit Stop. In theory, this is very straightforward. In practice, well, you'll see:

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

5 months

Los Angeles developers are finally starting to realize they can get around FAR restrictions on non-housing developments by plopping an apartment building on top

130 apartments with a Mercedes-Benz dealership pitched for 16747 Ventura Boulevard in Encino

Los Angeles has seen numerous variations on the mixed-use development over the years, but a proposed project in Encino may be the first of its kind in the city.

la.urbanize.city

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

18 days

Another builder's remedy project in Santa Monica with over 1,000 (possibly over 1,500?) units also appears to be moving forward

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

6 months

This new construction wood frame apartment building in Silver Lake looks convincingly like a 100-year-old adaptive reuse project

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

8 months

The devil's in the details, but it looks like NYC is proposing to reverse much of the Giuliani/Bloomberg era downzoning!

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

6 months

If you pay attention to Los Angeles development, one thing you've surely noticed is that almost every new building has elevated planters in front of it

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

9 months

Remember this project I posted about in May? Three months later, and it's topped off(!) The speed that they're able to build at with mass timber is truly unheard of

Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

1 year

A mass timber building (1510 Webster) under construction in Oakland. The entire floor was built in a single day

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

7 months

Before & After Thanks to state-mandated Housing Element upzonings, 2501 Wilshire in Santa Monica has increased from 71 homes to 170 homes

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

2 months

@MikeBradleyMKE Simple solution: the city changes its name

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

1 year

This could be Los Angeles' "Central Park"

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

1 year

A mass timber building (1510 Webster) under construction in Oakland. The entire floor was built in a single day

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

6 months

The results are in: during rush hour, it’s quicker to commute by bike than car Let’s make it safe so that more Angelenos will choose two wheels

FOX 11 Los Angeles

@FOXLA

6 months

Is it faster to bike or drive from East LA to West LA during rush hour? FOX 11 puts it to the test. Click the image to read more:

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

6 months

The Houston Paradox

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

6 months

Update: that was the side of the building. This is what the front looks like:

Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

6 months

Gorgeous project under construction in San Diego, by architect-developers Dominique Houriet and Christian Dimeling

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

8 months

The general public is starting to learn about SMB roll-ups, and they are not happy!

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

9 months

Public engagement doesn't work. There's a reason we don't have direct democracy

Westside For Everyone

@WestsideForEv

9 months

This meeting is a shitshow. People yelling at the councilwoman. Karen Bass just called for it to end.

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

2 months

The City of LA was dealing with a massive backlog of storm-water permits. They looked at the evidence and determined: 1. Small residential developments don't produce that much stormwater runoff 2. The city spends significant resources reviewing stormwater plans for small…

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

2 months

When you order a building from Wish

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

1 year

Here's a two bedroom apartment from a new-construction building in Los Angeles with no living room (!) 423 sq ft, $3110 a month

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

9 months

“Nobody rides transit in LA” Meanwhile, on transit in LA:

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

6 months

A lot of you have been saying that Los Angeles should be streamlining ALL housing, not just 100% affordable housing. It turns out Mayor Bass was listening

Mayor Karen Bass

@MayorOfLA

6 months

This morning, I signed Executive Directive 7 to accelerate MORE HOUSING for Angelenos of ALL income levels. It's time to expedite and convert existing buildings into housing to ensure everyone can find a place they can afford to call home.

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

11 months

Two common suggestions I haven’t already addressed: -Singapore: A boring utopia. Economically important, but little cultural impact -Dubai: You can’t be S Tier if you’re reliant on a slave-like servant underclass

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

7 months

This is the weirdest/coolest ED1 project proposed so far I can’t tell if it’s a pipe dream or a serious proposal. It makes no financial sense and appears to blatantly violate the CA Building Code But if it’s real and gets approved, it could change LA development forever

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

6 months

Gorgeous project under construction in San Diego, by architect-developers Dominique Houriet and Christian Dimeling

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

3 months

Rendering vs Reality: While I applaud what Culdesac tried to do, it’s hard to call it a success I’ve heard from numerous sources that development was mismanaged and has gone massively over budget The end result feels value-engineered and sterile

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

7 months

The stretch of PCH in Malibu is one of the deadliest roads in the country A ~relative of mine died in a crash there a decade ago Four Pepperdine students were killed there this week There's around 400 collisions per year along the 21 miles Lowering the speed limit and…

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

1 year

What land do you think is the most wasted space in America?

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

10 months

Most people significantly underestimate the impact of Twitter This Tweet thread from New Years 2019 may end up being singularly responsible for tens to hundreds of thousands of new homes in California

Chris Elmendorf

@CSElmendorf

5 years

CA housing folks: Why haven't builders exploited the state law exempting 20%-affordable projects from zoning / plan in cities that don't accommodate enough? @YIMBY_Law @hanlonbt @anniefryman @CAHousingPod @michaeldlane @ProfSchleich @RickHills2 @kookie13 @kimmaicutler 1/17

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

2 years

I almost admire how much this apartment building fucked-up its renovation

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

2 years

Bastrop is a small town outside of Austin. In 2019, they passed a new form-based zoning code with: 1) no parking requirements 2) no side or rear setbacks 3) no density restriction It’s very cool, and unlike any zoning code I have ever seen

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

1 year

Can any developer in Florida confirm if this is true? It sounds like it’d be disastrous for the industry

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

3 months

A Taco Bell turns into 446 Student Housing bedrooms (2019➡️2024)

Tomás Sidenfaden

@tomassidenfaden

3 months

@mnolangray How are these transformations overwhelmingly burger kings?

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

2 months

These two buildings are located a block away from each other It doesn’t necessarily cost more to get the small details right, you just need to care

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

10 months

Some additional eye candy from the planning application Designed by one of my favorite Miami architects: de la Guardia Victoria Architects & Urbanists

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

1 year

Brilliant

Philip Oldfield

@SustainableTall

1 year

47 social housing units, in a nearly net zero energy building, Barcelona Dataae, Narch, Maira Arquitectes

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

1 year

I asked Mid Journey to imagine Los Angeles in 2033

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

5 months

A lot of people think LA has limited transit, because they only think of trains In reality, @metrolosangeles buses are clean, safe, and convenient A big part of making LA less car dependent is just getting people to try riding buses

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

9 days

This would go so hard

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

28 days

A few things I've been asked to clarify: 1) The bill is still technically alive, but in a gutted form that makes the Student Housing DB completely useless 2) This post is MY OPINION ONLY. No one else working on the bill was consulted on this post

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

16 days

It’s kinda weird how geographically flat rents are in LA right now: In the $2200-$2600 range, you could rent an apartment in Ktown, or Downtown, or Silver Lake, or Los Feliz, or West Adams, or Hollywood, or Fairfax, or Palms, or Brentwood, or NoHo, or Sherman Oaks, or Venice

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

1 year

@orangutanagram The building is deeper than it looks in that rendering

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

4 months

Hmm... I wonder where the federal government is going to find 300 acres of land in LA County for the Tongva reservation

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

11 months

A Venice Line would give a massive boost to Metro ridership

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

8 months

Anti-zoning protest, St Louis 1945

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

1 year

European floor plans are so… foreign

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

8 months

Close to 50% of this condo building being built at Beverly and Fairfax is underground parking But hey, it was lauded in its EIR for being LEED certified

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

2 years

The most impressive SMB owner I ever met was a 90-year-old woman who "accidentally" bought a small glass contractor in her 60's and then grew it into a $70 million company I interviewed her in college but never published it. Anyone want to hear her story?

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

8 days

And this is the updated design of the first builder's remedy project in Santa Monica

Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

18 days

One of the Santa Monica Builder's Remedy projects appears to be moving forward as a by-right project (given expedited approval under the settlement) 1435 5th St has been upsized from 375 units in 13 floors to 422 units in 18 floors (picture is of old plans)

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

11 months

@caseharts Seoul - will reach S-tier soon Bangkok - impact is too regional Osaka/Kyoto - small potatoes vs Tokyo Madrid - no economy Shanghai - China too diffuse Beijing - “” “” Amsterdam - too small London is holding on by a thread

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

11 months

@UrbanJerseyGuy Montreal and Mexico City are amazing cities, but don't have the same level of international cultural impact Milan IDK much about, which is enough to tell me it's not S-Tier Beijing doesn't even have the largest economy in China Hong Kong I would have included 4 years ago

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

1 year

Hispanic construction worker TikTok is hysterical

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

8 months

This is the sum total of all of the condos available for sale in West LA that were built in the past decade

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

11 months

@sammy_stephenz Tokyo has the largest economy in the world It’s population is larger than the other three combined It’s global cultural impact is on par with Paris There’s no “maybe” about it

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

10 months

How do buildings end up looking like they do? A commentor on Urbanize asked why this proposed building by CIM Group in South LA was only 5 stories in height instead of 6 or 7. I decided to dig into the zoning, project plans, and entitlement documents to find out. This…

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

5 months

If I wanted to make an absolute fortune on a 20-year time horizon, I'd buy up as much land as I could in Van Nuys

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

10 months

LA Architecture is in its "arches" era, and I'm here for it

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

8 months

Most people probably don't realize how small, simple, and economical early tract homes were. One bathroom that shared a plumbing stack with a tiny kitchen. Curtains instead of closet doors. Two bedrooms plus an unfinished attic to expand later.

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

5 months

I just learned of Structural Insulated Rammed Earth and my life will never be the same

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

1 year

@jonathanbell0 There are no minimum parking requirements anywhere in SF

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

6 months

If you have a development within a half-mile of a rail transit station that you’re having trouble financing, the federal government now has $35 billion dollars of low-interest-rate loans you might be eligible for

Transit-Oriented Development - Project Eligibility Frequently Asked Questions

Transit-oriented development (TOD) projects are eligible under both the RRIF and TIFIA credit programs. The Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) below clarify the definitions used and the analyses...

www.transportation.gov

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

8 months

Perhaps your day could be improved with some old New York City floor plans

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

1 year

Until today I was unaware of the Ford Foundation Atrium, an indoor forest open to the public in New York. Will definitely need to check it out next time I’m in the city

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

8 days

The impact of ULA (LA’s "mansion tax") on development is much greater than most people realize. It hits projects twice —but probably not in the way you think. Let me explain: Let’s say a developer is building a building for $10 million to a 7 Yield on Cost (YOC) If the market…

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

7 months

THIS is what we should be using CEQA lawsuits for. Metro built something that differed from what is in their EIR. A private developer wouldn’t be allowed to get away with this, why should Metro?

Skip Pile

@skip_sf

7 months

Every no and again we get traffic engineers who come on this site and tell us the reason why we can't have bike lanes is because their hands are tied by policy makers. As this article about Metro shows, this is a lie.

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

22 days

The 800-unit Westwood building may just be the tip of the iceberg It appears like Elizabeth Naftali, scion of the Hirsh family (major political and philanthropic power-player), is preparing to file for 17 ED 1 projects consisting of thousands of units, mostly in West LA

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

3 months

Being exempt from local zoning, The Postal Service could build to Such Great Heights

M. Nolan Gray

@mnolangray

3 months

"Schiff proposes building more housing ... on U.S. Postal Service land that is up for sale or lease." Very cool! USPS has a giant untapped real estate portfolio, and as a federal agency, they are exempt from zoning.

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

11 months

This BS is why I don’t like Nick Engagement bait is fine, but don’t do it about people’s lives

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

2 months

Wanna get something done in LA? It's simple! Assuming you have a close personal connection with a city councilmember, you can get them to pass a motion to hire a consultant to write an RFP to hire a consultant to perform a study to report back in five years on whether they…

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

1 year

Looks like a normal warehouse in South LA, until...

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

2 months

Shoutout out to the developer who's crazy enough to propose this project that is 1/3 in City of LA and 2/3 in Culver City

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

7 months

Here's an affordable housing project, built with public funding, that apparently cost just $250,000 per-unit:

Micro-unit apartments completed at 274 N Oakland Avenue in Pasadena

In Pasadena, Community Builders Group and Bridge Financial Advisors have completed work on a project billed the city's first affordable micro-unit apartment complex.

la.urbanize.city

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

18 days

One of the Santa Monica Builder's Remedy projects appears to be moving forward as a by-right project (given expedited approval under the settlement) 1435 5th St has been upsized from 375 units in 13 floors to 422 units in 18 floors (picture is of old plans)

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

17 days

CA/LA housing law prioritizes developments located within a half mile of a "Major Transit Stop" Because of poor N/S bus frequency, much of West LA doesn't qualify Someone could create billions of dollars of value by running a private bus line in this 3.5 mile loop

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

10 months

Why are there residential streets in LA that are wide enough to fit six lanes?

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

7 months

Another one! Thanks to state-mandated Housing Element upzonings, 2025 Wilshire in Santa Monica has tripled in size from 46 homes to 150 homes. (it has also gobbled up the neighboring strip mall in the process)

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

4 months

The city of San Bernardino would LOVE developers to build in their downtown The problem is the economics. You have Los Angeles construction costs with Bakersfield rents

Ray Delahanty | CityNerd

@Nerd4Cities

4 months

I’m occasionally accused of roasting the Inland Empire too much, but…come on

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

1 year

611 Place in Los Angeles: - Has perfect floor plates for a residential conversion - Is almost completely empty, and has been for years - Received permits for a residential conversion in 2007

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

8 days

Built in 2015

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

9 months

Why aren't you using real linoleum in your projects? - As easy to clean as vinyl - All natural (made from flax seed and cork) - No VOCs - Can be waterproof (depending on install method) - Less noise - More comfortable to walk on - Not pretending to be something it isn't

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

1 year

It bothers me a bit that Habitat for Humanity still builds single-family homes in high-density regions I feel like they could be on the forefront of family-friendly multifamily

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

5 months

TIL Brightline West owns 110 acres on the Vegas Strip I bet they’re gonna build their own resort

Bob O’Malley

@bomalley

5 months

. @BrightlineWest awarded $3 billion for planned Las Vegas-to-LA high-speed rail line via @reviewjournal

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

1 year

This thread got me thinking: My parents sent me to a private school that now costs $42k a year (much cheaper at the time) When I have kids, I want to send them to a public school, because I believe in the institution of public education But I want to live in a walkable urban…

StripMallGuy

@realEstateTrent

1 year

Last night I shared some income and expense numbers that are very common in Manhattan. They were real numbers, shared without judgement or opinion. Yes, people who make $1M in Manhattan pay $425k of that in income taxes. Yes, they send their kids to private schools that cost…

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

3 months

Let's get things straight: The city's own analysis found that implementing the Mobility Plan will either not effect or improve emergency response times

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

17 days

@churrascooooo Working on a ship that lays under seas cables. You get every other two weeks off!

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

1 year

@GarnetBees I’m SF, it becomes super expensive to build above ~75 feet because of earthquake requirements

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

1 month

I had a chance this afternoon to tour the Bungalows by @_SuperLA Undoubtedly the nicest new construction apartment building in Los Angeles. It has a level of finish you simply do not see in American rental projects

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Joe Cohen

@CohenSite

1 month

Whether you like it or not, the future of LA is car-light: The cost to build an underground parking space is ~$80k The conflation of land costs, zoning, and building codes makes podium parking infeasible LA developers now must choosing: no parking, or 0.5 spaces per-unit

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