Hollywood WELCOME HOME

Highland Avenue continues down the road to its mixed-use destiny, as yet another residential-retail complex is headed to underutilized blocks south of Hollywood Boulevard. The latest project, intended for a set of parcels at 1233 N. Highland Avenue, would include 72 apartment units above ground floor commercial space. The mixed-use development is located one block south of a similar project from the Miami-based Lennar Corporation, which will create 76 residential units and 2,500 square feet of street level retail space near Hollywood High School.

This past weekend, a broken water main spilled untold gallons of precious drinking water onto the Sunset Strip, dealing yet another blow to drought-stricken California. On the other hand, flooding of a more figurative (and less dire) sort is also occurring further east along the iconic thoroughfare. Let’s for get about LADWP’s woes for a moment as we check in on the deluge of mixed-use developments adding new office space and residential units between Vine Street and the Hollywood Freeway.

Take another look at Sunset Boulevard’s stylish Palladium Residences, the high-rise towers proposed for the parking lot abutting the Hollywood Palladium. The mixed-use complex, unveiled last summer by developer Crescent Heights, would offer a blend of residential units and hotel rooms in a pair of sleek, 28-story buildings. An official website for the project features a new set of high-resolution renderings, highlighting the Palladium Residences’ street-level integration and prominent location within the Hollywood skyline.

In Hollywood, new hotel developments are suddenly spreading like wildfire. Back in July, rumblings emerged of a new 55-room boutique establishment setting up shop on Cahuenga Boulevard, in-between Sunset Boulevard and Selma Avenue. Now, it appears that a significantly larger project is slated for a half-acre site one block west. According to a case filing published last week by the Department of City Planning, a mid-rise hotel tower is planned at 1523 Wilcox Avenue.

While a NIMBY attorney wages war against high-rise construction on Sunset Boulevard, density of a lesser variety flies under the radar just a few blocks south. According to a presentation from the Hollywood Studio District Neighborhood Council, a new small lot subdivision is in the works at 1238-1242 Gordon Street, an approximately quarter-acre property between Fountain and Lexington Avenues. The project - known as the Studio District Homes on Gordon Street - is being designed by Mid-City-based architecture firm Modative.

Six months after starting construction at 6417 Selma Avenue, rebar and steel beams now protrude above ground at the future site of Hollywood’s Dream Hotel. The approximately $50 million project from developer Five Chairs will offer 182 guest rooms, located within easy walking distance of major tourist destinations along Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street. Designs from Santa Monica-based Killefer Flammang Architects call for a 10-story structure, clad with glass and metal sidings.

Over the summer, developer Kilroy Realty unveiled renderings for Academy Square, a $300 million mixed-use development on Vine Street. Now, a set of environmental documents released by LADCP has revealed additional details about the project, which would create apartments, ground-floor retail, office space, and possibly hotel rooms on a site once intended for the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. Academy Square would rise on a full city block, bounded by Vine Street, DeLongpre, Ivar and Homewood Avenues.

Over the summer, many Los Angeles preservationists were outraged by the unannounced demolition of the Mole-Richardson Building, a one-story Art Deco structure built in 1930. Now six months later, a case filing from the Department of City Planning has finally revealed why the 84-year-old building met with such an undignified ending. According to plans submitted to the city last week, a new residential-retail development will be constructed on the now vacant lot at 900 North La Brea Avenue.

Yet another property near Hollywood’s iconic Capitol Records Building is slated to give way for a tall mixed-use development. Plans were filed with the City of Los Angeles earlier this month for a new residential-retail complex at 6220 West Yucca Street. The approximately one-acre property, currently occupied by a series of low-rise residential structures, would be redeveloped with a 21-story tower. The proposed building would include 277 residential units and 3,300 square feet of ground-floor commercial space.

A striking new look has emerged for Kilroy Realty’s Academy Square development, courtesy of commercial real estate publication Bisnow. The $300 million project, designed by local architect Joey Shimoda, would create a 3.5-acre mixed-use campus in the heart of Hollywood. Plans call for a campus of low-rise and high-rise structures, offering a combination of apartments, offices, ground-floor retail and possibly hotel rooms. The project’s name is a nod to an abandoned plan by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to build a museum on the property.