Hollywood WELCOME HOME

Prepare to bid farewell to one of the most conspicuous surface parking lots in Hollywood, as Camden Development’s mixed-use project at Selma and Vine is just about ready to get shovels in the ground. As of this morning, the Department of Building and Safety has issued permits to Camden for shoring and foundation work on their $240 million project. Plans call for a 7-story building consisting of 287 apartments, 39,000 square feet of street level retail, and a four-level underground parking garage.

Work is already underway on Kilroy Realty’s Columbia Square development, but that doesn’t mean it’s too late to change the project’s design…again. Rios Clementi Hale Studios, one of three architectural firms collaborating on the project, recently posted updated renderings of Columbia Square to their website. While a PR representative for RCH has informed me that these plans are in no way finalized, the new renderings indicate that a redesign may be in the works for the project’s 22-story residential tower.

Multiple high-rise projects next to the Capitol Records Building were dealt a setback this week courtesy of the California State Geological Survey, but other Hollywood developments continue to make progress despite persistent NIMBY pushback. Near the intersection of Cahuenga Boulevard and Selma Avenue, plans for Los Angeles’ first Dream Hotel are officially back in motion. To make that news even sweeter, Five Chairs Development has asked the city for a series of zoning variances which would allow them to increase the project’s size.

Construction cranes have become a common sight in the Hollywood skyline over the past two years, and a newly proposed development from Hudson Pacific Properties would keep them around for the foreseeable future. Earlier today, the Department of City Planning released an environmental report for a new 274,000 square foot office building at 5901 Sunset Boulevard. The 18-story tower, designed by Gensler, would include six-stories of above-grade parking and 26,000 square feet of retail space at street level.

Most of the news coming out of Hollywood’s development front in recent months has been bad, but there are glimmers of hope to be found. Three nondescript buildings just west of Sunset Boulevard and La Brea Avenue are slated for demolition were recently demolished, making way for a new mixed-use development. Located at 7124 Sunset, the 44-unit building would rise to a maximum height of 65 feet, containing 3,000 square feet of ground level restaurant space.

UPDATE: Information supplied by Curbed LA indicates that the above rendering no longer represents the current vision for the project. Plans now call for 200 apartments and 4,700 square feet of retail space. Sunset Boulevard, already in the midst of a pronounced building boom, is adding yet another large scale project to the pipeline. According to a recent case filing with the Department of City Planning, the parking lot adjacent to the historic Earl Carroll Theatre will be replaced with a new mixed-use complex.

The Hollywood skyline was starting to get a little sparse, with construction cranes having recently disappeared at both Emerson College and Blvd 6200. Then, along came the $380 million Columbia Square development to save the day. While little more than a giant dirt pit at this point in time, developer Kilroy Realty will eventually turn the parcel at 6121 Sunset Boulevard into over 300,000 square feet of new Class-A office space and a 20-story residential high-rise.

An initial study published by the Los Angeles Department of City Planning offers a first glimpse of the Hollywood Ivar Gardens Project, a high-rise hotel planned by Irvine-based construction and real estate firm R.D. Olson. The proposed development - slated for a half-acre site bordered by Ivar Avenue, Sunset and Cahuenga Boulevards - would consist of 21-story building featuring a 275-key hotel with 1,900 square feet of retail space and other ancillary uses.

The recent approval of the Millenium Hollywood project, which will put 39 and 35 story high rise buildings on the surface parking lots adjacent to the Capitol Records Tower, has understandably stirred many emotions. Neighbors have raised hell over the potential affects on traffic. NIMBYs in the hills have complained that they may lose their view of the 1956 Welton Becket masterpiece. Personally, I do not think it’s the city’s responsibility to preserve the views from mansions in the Hollywood Hills.

Although Los Angeles’ economy is still struggling to regain what was lost during the recession, the city’s real estate market has been on a sharp upward trend over the past year. With housing prices climbing, developers are beginning to think “condo,” rather than “rental.“ One example comes from Wiseman Development, in the form of a 4-story, 25-unit condo building at 7260 Hawthorn Avenue in Hollywood. Documents submitted to the Department of City Planning indicate that locally based Killefer Flammang Architects are responsible for the project’s design.