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Hollywood Development: Is Hollywood Ready for a 54 Story Building?

In addition to issues occurring specifically in the Oaks, we at the Oaks Homeowners Association have been paying attention to changes in surrounding neighborhoods that might affect our quality of life. One such change is the rapid redevelopment of Hollywood, which has accelerated in recent years. Following is a short overview of developments that are either under construction, approved, or proposed:1

Under construction:

BLVD 6200
At Argyle and Hollywood. The first phase is comprised of four separate 6-story buildings including 535 apartments, 74,000 square feet of retail, and five levels of underground parking for 1,300 cars

Emerson College
This Hollywood branch of the Boston based college will house 220 students at full capacity in a 10-story building designed by the Pritzker prize winning, Los Angeles architecture firm Morphosis. This project contains parking for 248 cars

Sunset and Gordon
This project is located one block west of Bronson on the north side of Sunset Boulevard on the old Spaghetti Factory site. A 23-story tower will contain 305 apartments or condos as well as 40,000 square feet of office and retail. There will be parking for approximately 500 cars.

Approved Projects not yet under construction:

Columbia Square
Located at Sunset and Gower this project incorporates the old CBS Studios. It was approved in 2010 for an 875,000 square foot project, with a 28-story condo tower, a 7-story hotel and a 17-story office building with parking for 1,700 cars. The project has been reportedly scaled down to 650,000 square feet including three office buildings and a residential tower.

Approved Projects in Litigation:

Target
Located at the southwest corner of Sunset and Western, this is an approved 4-story development with a 164,000 square foot Target store; 30,000 square feet of additional retail; and 458 parking spots on three levels.

Proposed Projects:
The last group is comprised of projects that are proposed, but not yet totally approved

High Line West is a proposed project of 280 apartments, with 25 classified as affordable. It also includes 12,000 square feet of retail space and would be located on the south side of Hollywood Boulevard, just west of Western Avenue. This project will include parking for approximately 350 cars.

Argyle Apartments
The Lesbian and Gay Elder housing nonprofit has proposed building 40 affordable units on Western (not Argyle), north of Hollywood.

The Hollywood Millennium Project
This proposed project is comprised of two very large towers, with the larger being over 50 stories. The project is located on both sides of Vine Street around the Capitol Records Building. The conceptual plan includes 492 residential units; 200 luxury hotel rooms; 250,000 square feet of office space; 35,000 square feet of restaurants; 40,000 square feet of sports club; 15,000 square feet of retail; and parking for 2,000 cars on eight levels. It is important to note that this conceptual plan is not a fixed plan. The developer can change the project to an office or other use under an "equivalency program" which allows developers to change many aspects of the project, such as use, as long as the new project is determined to be equivalent to the approved project.
The Planning Department has approved this project and it now goes on to the Planning Commission for a hearing on March 28th for approval. Our neighborhood council, all of the adjacent homeowners associations, the Hillside Federation, and local and citywide historic preservation organizations such as Hollywood Heritage and the Los Angeles Conservancy have come out against this project, while the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce supports it.

If you are interested in having your voice heard, we encourage you to attend the hearing at City Hall on March 28th at 8:30am at Los Angeles City Hall, John Ferraro Council Chambers, Room 340, 200 N Spring Street, LA 90012, or submit your comments electronically. (see below)

At the Oaks Homeowners Association, we are taking a broad view of the Millennium project and all of the other development projects mentioned above. In general, like most residents, we are looking forward to all of the great possibilities of a revitalized Hollywood. However, we want to make sure that the proposed additional density has an infrastructure to support it. For example: if you add up all of the parking spaces provided or proposed for the developments mentioned above, it amounts to over 6,500 spaces. The arithmetic is simple: more parking spaces = more traffic generated. In fact, the environmental report for the Hollywood Millennium project reports that the negative traffic impact for several intersections on Frankin CAN NOT BE mitigated. And this is just for one current project. What about the future? We can all understand that this auto-oriented pattern of development has its limits as we quickly approach gridlock.

That said, development will continue, and if high density development is going to occur in Hollywood, the only reasonable solution seems to be one that relies more heavily on mass transit, with walking and biking options. While we were promised Transit Oriented Development when the Hollywood Community Plan was revised, all of the current projects are really auto-oriented, with the overwhelming majority of people arriving at these new buildings by car.

In the coming months we will be approaching the Planning Department and Councilmember La Bonge’s office to discuss these issues, offer suggestions, and express our concerns. We want to take a realistic look at the capacity of the local streets to absorb more cars for these and future developments. We want to ask how public transportation can be made more efficient and more widely utilized, and how we move away from the old cycle of more parking spaces and more traffic.

If you would like to read the positions of various groups on the Millennium Project,
please see the following links:

Pro
HollywoodChamber.net

Con
HollywoodHeritage.org
LAConservancy.org/issues/issues_capitolrecords.php

If you would like to submit your comments about this project to the planning
commission, please email: luciralia.ibarra@lacity.org

If you would like to sign an online petition against the Hollywood Millennium Project: signon.org/sign/opposition-to-the-millennium?source=c.em.mt&r_by=7343547

1 Information for this article was sourced from multiple publications and blogs. The project descriptions for the accompanying map has been sourced from the blog la.curbed.com

 

Over 75 of your neighbors attended the Annual Oaks Homeowners Association meeting, on Monday, March 11th. We had a full and interesting agenda starting with a summary of the many accomplishments of the Board this year. Next, a representative of the LAFD spoke to us about the new station on Sunset and told us that the old station on Bronson is being remodeled for use as a community and possible training center.

Congressman Adam Schiff attended and provided highlights on his fight to control the heavy helicopter noise and traffic above our area.

Mary Rodriguez and Carolyn Ramsay gave us updates on activities in Council District 4, and told us about some great upcoming events, which are listed on the right.

One of our ladies in blue (LAPD) advised us that the main crime in our area is breaking into cars. Don’t leave anything that might look valuable where it can be seen in you car was her advice.

Geoffrey Smith of Film LA, who manages the permitting and issues involving the many film productions in Los Angeles, outlined the process and what they are doing to protect the rights of homeowners while encouraging film production in Los Angeles.

And finally, Board member and architect Wayne Schlock gave us a fascinating and rather alarming update on the many substantial building projects that are either under construction or pending in Hollywood. Everyone was very interested in this subject as it will impact our traffic quite a bit. The current Board was unanimously re-elected.

If you are interested in volunteering for any of the Oaks Homeowners Association activities throughout the year, please contact President Caroline Schweich at Caroline.Schweich@oakshome.org.

As part of the Power Reliability Program, LADWP crews replace underground power infrastructure along Los Feliz Blvd. Construction will begin in February and will occur intermittently on weekdays through Fall 2013.

LADWP power crews responsible for carrying out this work are also responsible for responding to other power related needs for the Los Feliz area as well as surrounding communities. As other unanticipated power repair needs arise in the system, crews will be reassigned and pulled away temporarily from the construction on Los Feliz Blvd. All lanes will remain open to traffic on non-construction days.

Construction Schedule
Construction will only occur on some weekdays, Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. All lanes will be reopened at the end of each work day. Access to driveways and alleys will be maintained at all times.

Phase 1: April 1 through early May 2013

Intersection of Los Feliz Blvd and Hillhurst Ave

• Los Feliz Blvd (eastbound): No left turn onto Hillhurst Ave.
  
• Los Feliz Blvd (westbound): Reduced to one lane through the intersection.
  
• Hillhurst Ave (northbound): No left turn onto Los Feliz Blvd.
  
• Hillhurst Ave (southbound): Must turn right onto Los Feliz Blvd.
  
• The bus stop at the northeast corner, on Los Feliz Blvd, will be
  temporarily relocated.

Phase 2: Early May through Fall 2013

Los Feliz Blvd, between North New Hampshire Ave to Cheswic Lane

• Los Feliz Blvd: Reduced to one lane in each direction between
  Vermont Ave to Cheswic Lane.
  
• Vermont Ave (northbound): No left turn onto Los Feliz Blvd.

For more information, please call LADWP Community Relations at 213-367-1361.

FilmLA 213.977.8600 (available 24/7)

If you have an issue with a current production, please call FilmLA and say that you are having problems with a company filming at: street name/exact address if possible. The information will be sent to the permit coordinator for that filming and he/she will return Your call as soon as possible.