Development WELCOME HOME

At the crossing of Wilshire and Santa Monica Boulevards, a luxury hotel tower is now taking shape. The 12-story Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills, which is developed by Alagem Capital Group, is rising next-door to the iconic Beverly Hilton Hotel. Budgeted at $200 million, the project will consist of 170 guest rooms and suites, high-end stores, restaurants and ancillary functions. Renderings of the project, which is being designed by a team lead by Gensler and Pierre-Yves Rochon, portray a mid-rise structure in the Streamline Moderne style.

In this week’s Throwback Thursday, architectural photographer Hunter Kerhart shows eight months of progress on 801 S. Olive Street, the latest Downtown development from Carmel Partners. The first image, taken in February, captures the tower just past the halfway point of its 33-story climb. The second, snapped earlier this week, shows that vertical construction and exterior glass work are nearly complete. When finished in 2017, 801 Olive Street will feature 363 residential units and 10,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space.

Last week, Merlone Geier Partners and the City of Laguna Hills broke ground on the new Five Lagunas Center on the site of the former Laguna Hills Mall. Situated adjacent to the 5 freeway, the project’s name was inspired by its location in the midst of Laguna Hills, Laguna Beach, Laguna Nigel, Laguna Woods and Laguna Canyon. Merlone Geier Partners imagines Five Lagunas as an urban village, providing a Downtown-like experience in a master-planned community.

Visions of a taller, more urban Warner Center are finally taking shape. Earlier this week, plans were filed with the City of Los Angeles to build a mixed-use development directly across the street from the $350-million Village at Westfield Topanga mall. The project, which is being developed by Los Angeles-based California Home Builders, would consist of a seven-story structure features 347 apartments above approximately 40,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space.

Note: A representative of the developer has notified us that SB Tower is not being converted into condominiums. The plans filed with the City of Los Angeles were to extend the sunset provision of previously approved entitlements. We regret the error. Nearly three years after being rebuffed in his attempt to convert two Historic Core buildings into condominiums, developer Barry Shy will hope for better luck with another of his numerous Downtown properties.

A presentation to the Mar Vista Community Council has revealed a rendering for 12444 Venice Boulevard, the first of two Mar Vista developments planned by local real estate firm Crimson Holdings. The proposed mixed-use complex, first reported by the Real Deal LA, would rise from the southeast corner of Venice Boulevard and Wasatch Avenue, replacing a shopping center. Plans filed with the City of Los Angeles call for a five-story structure, featuring 77 residential units, 2,100 square feet of ground-floor retail space and parking accommodations for 75 vehicles and 89 bicycles.

A new environmental report takes a closer look at a $150-million plan for a mixed-use development in Panorama City. The ICON at Panorama City, proposed by the Beverly Hills-based Icon Company, would rise from a roughly nine-acre property at Roscoe Boulevard and Tobias Avenue, home to a long-vacant Montgomery Ward. Plans call the demolition of the former department store, followed by the construction of multiple low-rise and mid-rise structures, creating a combination of multifamily residential units and pedestrian-oriented shops and eateries.

New environmental documents shed light on developer IMT Residential’s plan to build apartments at the former Sherman Oaks headquarters of Sunkist Growers, Inc. The 8.3-acre site at Riverside Drive and Hazeltine Avenue is currently improved with Sunkist’s home for more than a half-century: a three-story, 126,000-square-foot building designed by the architecture firm A.C. Martin. IMT plans to renovate the 1960s structure, which will be retained as creative office space in the new development.

Aerial footage from architectural photographer Hunter Kerhart shows construction nearing completion on a long-awaited park in the Arts District. The $1.6-million project, which broke ground in late 2014, is creating a half-acre green space at the corner of 5th and Hewitt Streets. Designed by staff architects from the Los Angeles Bureau of Engineering, the park will feature outdoor seating, a playground, landscaping and an eight-foot mural wall. The park sits immediately north of the La Kretz Innovation Campus, a 60,000-square-foot facility which serves as an incubator for local startups in the cleantech industry.

A new promotional video offers a flythrough tour of NoHo West, the proposed redevelopment of the San Fernando Valley’s soon-to-be vacant Laurel Plaza shopping center. The future mixed-use complex, located at 6150 Laurel Canyon Boulevard, is expected to create a walkable neighborhood featuring offices, apartments and ground-level shops and restaurants. A total of 742 residential units would be provided in three-to-six-story buildings along the perimeter of the 25-acre site. An existing four-story structure near the center of the property, currently a Macy’s department store, would be repurposed as approximately 500,000 square feet of office space.