Development WELCOME HOME

Earlier this month, Curbed LA revealed renderings for a new residential-retail complex in Hollywood, intended to replace a cluster of one-story commercial buildings at 7500-7580 Sunset Boulevard. The mixed-use development from West Hollywood-based Faring Capital would invigorate two sleepy blocks between Gardener and Curson Avenues with 236 luxury residential units above 30,000 square feet of neighborhood-serving retail and restaurant space. Designed by Santa Monica’s Killefer Flammang Architects, the project calls for two low-rise structures featuring high-quality finishes and ample outdoor amenities.

As the developer of the controversial Millennium Hollywood proudly declares its property fault-free, another skyline altering project will soon go before the neighborhood’s notorious NIMBY gauntlet. Last week, plans were submitted to the city for a new mixed-use complex at the northwest corner of Hollywood Boulevard and La Brea Avenue. The proposed development would consist of a “six to twenty-six story building,” containing retail space and an unspecified number of residential units within approximately 466,000 square feet of floor space.

Over three years after Molly’s Burgers served its final customers, one of Hollywood’s most polarizing projects is poised to emerge unscathed from development hell. 1601 Vine Street, a mid-rise office tower first proposed in 2006, is miraculously on pace to break ground before the end of this calendar year. Last week, demolition permits were pulled for the pair of drab commercial structures that currently occupy the project site. This follows construction permits for the new office building, which have been in the works since earlier this summer.

With an official website up and running, we can now take a closer look at the latest tower project slated to realign Hollywood’s low-slung skyline. The $150 million Horizon Hollywood - to be developed by a partnership between by Kennedy Wilson and the LeFrak Organization - would create 410 residential units and 10,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space just a short walk from Hollywood/Highland Station. Designed by Santa Monica-based GMPA Architects, Horizon would erect a trio of modern buildings on a two-acre property currently occupied by Mosaic Church.

Resurgent demand for quality office space in Hollywood has revived a slew of commercial developments throughout the submarket, including 1601 Vine Street and the sprawling Columbia Square campus. Now, a recent environmental report provides a glimpse of the neighborhood’s latest project, intended for a property which straddles the Hollywood/West Hollywood border. 925 La Brea Avenue, a six-story mixed-use complex, would rise from a mid-block parcel between Willoughby Avenue and Romaine Streets.

Five years after stalling out with developer DS Ventures, Central Hollywood’s massive Lexington project is somehow alive and kicking. The mixed-use development, proposed for a 5.9-acre site at the intersection of Santa Monica Boulevard and Las Palmas Avenue, would create a series of low-rise buildings featuring apartments and/or condominiums above ground-level commercial space. A recently released FEIR casts some light on the updated, and slightly reduced development program. Revised plans for the Lexington were designed by Santa Monica-based VTBS Architects, and call for six buildings, ranging from five-to-seven stories in height.

Hollywood’s well documented construction boom continues to surge, as yet another skyline altering project prepares to break ground near the 101 Freeway. According to Bisnow, local landlord Hudson Pacific Properties (HPP) plans to begin work next week on a long-awaited expansion of Sunset Bronson Studios (SBS). The $150 million development, designed by architectural firm Gensler, will retool the eastern side of the SBS campus with a new parking garage and approximately 400,000 square feet of office and production space.

Courtesy of the DLANC Planning and Land Use Committee, I offer you updated renderings of Carmel Partners’ proposed tower at 801 Olive Street. Set to rise 27-stories, the GMP Architects designed tower would contain 363 residential units above a four-story podium. The building activates the corner of 8th and Olive Streets with 10,000 combined square feet of retail and restaurant space. Not a bad complement for the future Whole Foods Market across the street.

You wouldn’t think of development hungry Downtown LA as a bedlam for NIMBY activity, but there’s a first time for everything. Investment group BIMHF, LLC announced plans to convert a derelict structure at 1130 Hope Street into a 44-room boutique hotel back in 2012, but a group of neighbors have recently started fighting against the project. Homeowners in the adjacent Luma and Evo condominium towers have asked the Central Area Planning Commission to overturn the entitlements granted to the 10-story hotel project last year, included allowances for an open air pool deck and zero off-street parking.

The Greenland Group raised more than a few eyebrows when they boldly proclaimed that they’d break ground on the long awaited Metropolis development before the end of 2013. Turns out that they might not have been that far off. According to a document from the city’s Chief Legislative Analyst, the Chinese developer plans to start shoring and grading work for phase one of Metropolis on February 14. Phase one will emerge at the intersection of Francisco Street and James M Wood Boulevard, consisting of two high-rise structures above a pedestrian plaza.