Century City WELCOME HOME

Aerial images captured by architectural photographer Hunter Kerhart showcase progress on the $800-million expansion of the Westfield Century City shopping mall. The project, slated to open in phases starting in 2017, will add 422,000 square feet of shops and restaurants to the flagship retail center. Prominent new tenants will include a three-level Nordstroms, a remodeled Bloomingdale’s, a new Macy’s and the first West Coast location of the Italian market chain Eataly.

Last week, the skyline-altering makeover of the Century Plaza Hotel took a giant leap forward. According the Real Deal L.A., the redevelopment of the 50-year-old hotel by real estate investment firm Woodbridge Capital Partners secured its construction financing last week. The $2.5-billion project, designed by the architecture firm Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, will add twin 46-story towers on the property at the intersection of Constellation Boulevard and Avenue of the Stars.

Century City will never be a walker’s paradise, even when it does get its long awaited subway station (hopefully less than 15 years from now). It’s cold and aloof, with buildings that (for the most part) refuse to meet the sidewalk. Generous accommodations for the automobile are strewn about. Its retail accommodations are almost exclusively encompassed by the fortress like Westfield Century City mall. Nonetheless, Century City is on pace for a massive amount of construction activity in the coming five years.

The Westfield Group, scourge of California taxpayer advocates, continues to make slow but steady progress on enhancements for its flagship Century City location. When we checked on Century City back in July, they were hard at work on the mall’s new parking structure (on the right hand side of the above image). Now Westfield is moving on to the more exciting phase of the project. Earlier this month, they applied for a permit to demolish 1801 Avenue of the Stars.

While Jean Nouvel’s erstwhile “Green Blade,” proposal packed more architectural star power, I have grown to appreciate Handel Architects’ version of 10000 Santa Monica Blvd. Los Angeles’ rooftop helipad ordinance is often blamed for giving the city a “bland,” skyline. However, Handel’s design for 10000 Santa Monica shows that it is possible to work around the ordinance to create dynamic shapes. The tower’s slanted rooftop and sharp angles will be unique elements in Century City’s modernist skyline.

Seems like it took forever getting here, but the long delayed 40-story tower at 10000 Santa Monica Boulevard is finally ready to get off the ground. Or more accurately, into the ground. Earlier today, the Department of Building and Safety gave developer Crescent Heights the go-ahead to start excavation and shoring work for the tower’s two-level underground parking garage. The 2.4 acre lot, positioned across the street from Beverly Hills’ western border, has awaited re-development since 2006.

Westfield Century City’s long delayed expansion plans are shrinking…again. Citing market conditions and an ongoing dialogue with the surrounding neighborhood, the Austalian mall developer has opted to downscale its proposed 39-story high-rise to a less imposing 15-story structure. Once planned to contain 262 condominiums, the revised tower proposal features just 20 “upscale residences.“ When approved in 2009, the project was slated to include approximately 100,000 square feet of office space, in which the Westfield Group had intended to house its US headquarters.

After years of delays, a controversial expansion of the Westfield Century City shopping complex is finally forging ahead. Demoltion is now visibly underway on Gateway West, a vacant 12-story office building located at the intersection of Santa Monica Boulevard and Avenue of the Stars. The landmark structure, designed by prominent Los Angeles architect Welton Becket, became Century City’s first office tower when it opened in 1963. The mid-rise edifice is being torn down to make way for a 1.2 million-square-foot expansion of the adjacent shopping mall, the Westfield Group’s Los Angeles flagship.

After years of delay, a $300 million high-rise building is rapidly climbing upwards in Century City. Last summer, Miami-based developer Crescent Heights broke ground on 10000 Santa Monica Boulevard, a 40-story apartment tower straddling the border between the cities of Los Angeles and Beverly Hills. The property, vacant for over ten years, will eventually yield 283 luxury apartments ranging from 1,500 to more than 3,000 square feet. The series of one-, two-and-three-bedroom units will be supplemented by plush amenities including a tennis court and an outdoor swimming pool.

The Westfield Century City may be years away from completing its highly anticipated renovation, but you can already tour the $800 million transformation thanks to a fly-through video posted to the Westfield Corporation’s website. The long delayed expansion project will add over 420,000 square feet of premium retail space to the shopping center, increasing the mall’s total floor area to 1.2 million square feet. This expansion will make room for over 220 new stores and restaurants, to be situated in newly constructed space near the intersection of Santa Monica Boulevard and Avenue of the Stars.