Steven Sharp WELCOME HOME

Less than one week after filing plans to redevelop the 36-acre Westfield Promenade property in Warner Center, the Westfield Corporation has revealed a full website for the project. Dubbed Westfield Promenade 2035, the proposed development is shaped by the Warner Center 2035 Plan (WC2035). WC2035 was adoped by the Los Angeles City Council in 2013, and is intended as a blueprint for future development within the surrounding community. According to a case filing from the Los Angeles Department of City planning, a full buildout of the project will include: Additionally, a project fact sheet announces that the propsed development would include more than seven acres of open space, including rooftop gardens and landscaping.

After spending nearly six months in increasingly cramped quarters, relief is finally in sight for passengers on Metro’s Expo Line. According to a new timetable, the light rail line between Downtown Los Angeles and Santa Monica will begin running with six-minute headways effective Sunday, October 23. The Expo Line currently operates on a 12-minute timetable, as it has since it first opened to the Westside in 2012. Metro will be able to run trains more frequently due to the delivery of its new Kinki Sharyo P3010 light rail vehicles, which were first introduced into service earlier this year.

Los Angeles-based real estate firm Palisades has announced a new residential development in Santa Monica. AIRE Santa Monica, located on 14th Street, the project consists of 19 luxury condominiums priced starting in the $900,000s. AIRE offers two- and three-bedroom floor plans ranging from 1,000 square feet to 2,100 square feet in size. Half of the units are arranged as single-story garden flats, while the remainder are designed as two-story townhouses. An official website also advertises amenities including private patios, rooftop terraces, high quality finishes and smart appliances.

Work is finally getting underway for a multifamily residential development on a prominent site in Hollywood. Last week, heavy equipment arrived on-site on at 1840 N. Highland Avenue, an large parking lot located north of the Hollywood & Highland Center. The property - which fronts Franklin Place, Highland, Las Palmas and Franklin Avenues - is slated for a podium-style apartment complex featuring 118 residential units. Renderings from Arquitectonica portray a contemporary building framed by a metal exoskeleton.

The Kor Group, a Los Angeles-based real estate firm, has announced the start of construction for a luxury lifestyle hotel in Downtown Santa Monica. The Santa Monica Proper, which is being developed in partnership with landowner Alex Gorby and the Merchant Banking Division of Goldman Sachs, will feature 271 guest rooms at 7th Street and Wilshire Boulevard, just a few blocks from the Pacific Ocean. Kor’s project includes the renovation of a 1928 Spanish Colonial Revival building along Wilshire, as well as the construction of an adjacent building that blends with the historic architecture.

An affordable housing complex could rise in Florence, mere steps from a station on Metro’s Blue Line. According to a motion put forth by Supervisor Mark Ridley Thomas, Los Angeles County plans to enter into negotiations with AMCAL Multi-Housing regarding the potential construction of senior affordable apartments on three parcels at 1600-1616 E. Florence Avenue. The nearly one-acre site is currently developed with a commercial building, surface parking and the Florence Library, which would be incorporated into the ground-floor of the proposed development.

The website of design visualization studio Archeon Light has revealed additional renderings for a proposed mixed-use development in Westlake. In July, Urban View Investments, LLC submitted plans to the city to raze a series of small residential buildings on a one-acre property bounded by Hartford Avenue, 5th and Witmer Streets. In its place, the Los Angeles-based firm plans construct an eight-story, 174,000-square-foot building featuring 182 market rate apartments and 36 units of affordable housing.

Last year, the completion of the the Village at Westfield Topanga was heralded as a new Downtown for the San Fernando Valley. The outdoor shopping center, built at a cost of $350 million, offers a pedestrian paseo flanked by a curated collection of stores and restaurants. The new mall stands in stark relief to the dilapidated Westfield Promenade, which has seen an exodus of tenants as a result of decaying conditions.

A tipster has passed along the official website for 8777 Washington Boulevard, a proposed mixed-use development which would replace the Surfas Culinary District near the Expo Line’s Culver City Station. The project - slated for a one-acre site at the northeast corner of Washington and National Boulevards - would entail nearly 30,000 square feet of creative office space, 80 residential units and approximately 16,000 square feet of ground-level commercial uses. Renderings portray a low-rise complex linked by a central core.

Last month, the Los Angeles Daily News reported that construction is finally underway for a mixed-use development at the site of the paper’s former headquarters. The project from Fairfield Residential, located on a 4.5-acre site at 21221 Oxnard Street, will consist of 379 apartments in a sprawling five-story complex. Previous reports have budgeted the development at $70-million. A rendering from Architects Orange portrays a contemporary design highlighted by a glass tower element.