[dropcap]A[/dropcap] 15-year effort to build a hotel at 8950 Sunset Blvd. will take another step forward with an evaluation of the project on Thursday by WeHo’s Design Review Subcommittee. Meanwhile, CIM Group and Denihan Hospitality Group have announced they will build the James Los Angeles hotel at Sunset and La Cienega boulevards.
The 8950 Sunset location, first proposed in 1999 as a site for the Astra hotel, was purchased in 2005 for $16.5 million by the James hotel chain. But last year a European hotel group bought the property for $28 million.
The 8950 Sunset project sits between Hilldale Avenue and Hammond Street, adjacent to the 9000 Sunset Blvd. office tower owned by the Mani Brothers Real Estate Group. It will contain 165 rooms as opposed to the 195 proposed when the James hotel was contemplated for that site. The architect is Three: Living Architecture of Dallas.
The design is dramatically different from that which was proposed for the James. “Its signature feature, an opening approximately 50 feet tall by 80 feet wide (is) a grand gesture to the street,” said Stephanie Reich, the city’s urban designer, in an evaluation of the project. “The design is a forward-looking modern design. With attention to detail and successful execution, it has the potential to become a jewel box highlighting the best qualities of the Sunset Strip.
Construction has begun on the Sunset | La Cienega project, which will straddle the intersection of Sunset and La Cienega boulevards and include the James Los Angeles hotel, which is being designed by Skidmoore Owings & Merrill.
The James will consist of two 10-story towers with 286 rooms, two restaurants, rooftop and lobby bars and approximately 10,000 square feet of meeting space.
The Design Review Subcommittee will evaluate the 8950 Sunset design at its meeting Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at the Plummer Park Community Center.
Other views of the 8950 Sunset hotel are on the pages that follow:
I like it, a lot. My brother is an architect with marvelous taste.
But seriously, I like it.
Romanoff – there is no reason why mixed-use dwellings have to be ugly-assed buildings (an homage to OJ). What does a major artery have to do with good design? Maybe the DR hadn’t fully embraced the idea of touting our less attractive sister at Eastern WeHo.
This looks like a grotesque flower box. WEHO and Los Angeles have hired the lowest class of architects in the USA. The city is becoming a total third world dump. The design review has to be be from tech school sponsored by the corrupt city council of Los Angeles.
@Romanoff: do you have some particular design credentials to share with “most of us”?
Lynn, obviously most of us don’t agree that your mother is a keen and knowledgeable observer of architecture great or humble. but I’m absolutely sure she’s a sweet, bless her soul.
As for the comment about where was Design Review on La Brea? There is a big difference between quality mixed-use dwelling units on a major city artery vs. an iconic hotel structure on one of the most famous streets in the world.
Nice work on this project!
My Mother’s comment upon seeing the renderings was priceless. As a keen and knowledgeable observer of both great and humble architecture worldwide she asked if this was to be an instlation in a shipyard, perhaps a new terminal at Long Beach..
The Chateau Marmont was inadvertently not mentioned.
A jewel box.? According to what standards? Would someone please speak to the merits of this design? Because it appears better than previous incantations? I’m sure at least one long time member of the PC will proclaim it “iconic”, but I ask what are his comparative standards? As far as I know the singular iconic hotel in WH is the Sunset Tower which has stood the test of time as far as the life of LA goes. On an international standard, and to be sure WH fancies itself in the internationL loop, what do the recent proliferation of hotels on… Read more »
The design is great but I’m not sure about the large capacity open air night club on the roof.
First “Pretty Plantings” and now “A Jewel Box” Yes this is a beautiful design and we are lucky to have the vision of the architects to create such buildings in our city. But yet again I have simple questions to ask. Questions that should be asked by the city First This is the fourth major hotel on sunset being planned and one only a block away and several others being built or planned elsewhere in the city…. How many new hotels does our general plan call for ? Are they all high end hotels ? Do we already have the… Read more »
I live fairly close to this project. The lot has been vacant for a very long time. The city kept renewing the entitled project but it never got the funding. Then the recession hit and all these years later, we have a better project from a new owner with enough money to get this far. Let’s hope they have the funding to make this happen. This hotel design and digital rendering is far more interesting than many other projects on the Strip. I hope it gets built and this vacant lot starts to generate more property and transient occupancy tax… Read more »
Pic #3 would have to be looking from Hilldale. Hammond is the west bordering street.
I’ve lived just around the corner since 1997 and I have enjoyed the vast empty lot ever since. Our neighborhood is pretty quiet considering how close we are to the clubs. I wonder how this will turn out. Everyone knows that the traffic sucks on the strip.