Wilshire Grows and Traffic Follows

"There are more than two dozen residential developments -- adding up to thousands of new housing units -- either completed or proposed along the boulevard between downtown and the Miracle Mile district."

"Some of the projects are rehabs of shuttered office towers, such as the 1100 and 1010 Wilshire towers and the Mercury, the old Getty Oil headquarters across the street from Solair. Others are brand-new projects, sleek glass-and-steel towers like the Solair, where officials gathered Monday to mark the building's 'topping off'--the point in construction when the roof's concrete is poured and the structure itself fully enclosed."

"But the building boom is meeting with growing concerns from some residents. There is particular alarm over new projects planned near the corner of La Brea Avenue and Wilshire, already a major traffic bottleneck, where hundreds of new housing units have been proposed."