Architectural renderings have emerged for NoHo West, a proposed development which would transform North Hollywood’s 25-acre Laurel Plaza shopping center into a mixed-use community. The project - which is being developed by a joint venture between Goldstein Planting Investments and Merlone Geier Partners - would include a series of low-rise structures featuring apartments, retail and commercial office space.
The commercial heart of NoHo West would be Laurel Plaza Drive, a main street slicing diagonally through the development site. Images displayed on the project’s official website portray a four-block pedestrian paseo, lined with trees and flanked by shops and restaurants. An elliptical plaza would sit at the mid-point of the paseo, offering water features, landscaping and outdoor seating. According to plans filed with the City of Los Angeles, the project would include include 190,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, as well as a gym, a supermarket and a cinema multiplex. These uses would be served by approximately 2,600 parking spaces, to be located in an eight-story structure abutting the 170 Freeway.
NoHo West’s residential component, intended for the corner of Radford Avenue and Erwin Street, would consist of two buildings featuring 742 studio, one- and two-bedroom apartment units. Plans call for high quality interior finishes, and a slew of residential amenities that could include yoga studios, fitness centers, outdoor barbeques, swimming pools and a public dog park. The project’s website states that the buildings will match the scale of the surrounding neighborhood with a three-story profile along Erwin Street that would gradually step back to a maximum height of five or six stories. Additionally, designs call for a series of U-shaped courtyards and landscaped buffers to further soften the project’s streetwall. Records from the Los Angeles Department of City Planning indicate that the residential component would include over 1,300 dedicated parking spaces, to be located in an underground garage.
The centerpiece of the existing shopping mall - a four-story Macy’s department store - would be repurposed as approximately 500,000 square feet of commercial office space under the NoHo West development. The adaptive reuse of the boxy structure will require numerous modifications, including the removal of a 30,000-square-foot annex. Architectural renderings also indicate that the building’s facade would receive substantial alterations. Parking for future office tenants would be provided within an existing underground garage and the new structure to be built along the western edge of the property. The project, which features design work from Los Angeles-based architecture firm Altoon Partners, would include a variety of environmentally friendly features. In addition to green construction techniques and water conservation efforts, the completed development would offer electric car charging stationgs, bicycle parking and photovoltaic canopies atop its parking structure. Construction of NoHo West will require numerous discretionary approvals from the city, including a zone change. A timeline for the project is currently unknown.