The debate over development in and around West Hollywood, focused lately on 8150 Sunset Blvd., may take a turn south with two major projects being planned for La Cienega Boulevard at the edge of and just outside the city limits.
The latest, announced yesterday by the Real Deal, the real estate trade website, is a plan for a mixed-use development at 431 N. La Cienega, the site of Mikey’s Car Wash. It will include ground-floor retail space with apartments above that, according to broker Brandon Michaels of Marcus & Millichap. “It’s going to be a substantial project, with a lot of capital,” Michaels told the Real Deal.
According to the Real Deal, Stark Enterprises paid $21.25 million for the quarter-acre property which it will develop with Robin Group of Beverly Hills. It west side of La Cienega just south of Rosewood, bordering the West Hollywood West neighborhood.
While plans haven’t been filed for the 431 N. La Cienega project, it’s likely that the one down the boulevard will be much larger. That project, by Rick Caruso, is planned for 333 N. La Cienega Blvd., also on the south side of the boulevard and bordering West Hollywood West.
Caruso has won the support of L.A. City Councilmember Paul Koretz, whose 5th District encompasses the project, now that he has agreed to reduce it from 245 to 185 feet. Caruso also has agreed to put a half million dollars into the City of Los Angele’s affordable housing trust fund. The area’s zoning code limits buildings to a height of 45 feet.
The Caruso project has drawn opposition from the Beverly Wilshire Homes Association. However the Mid City West Community Council has voiced support for it. The project also has been approved by the L.A. Planning and Land Use Committee and soon will go before the city council.
Also, btw, the site where the car repair facility stood for at least the fifty years of my life, may stop that project before it begins. All gas stations and car repair sites, have an almost 100% chance there will be serious underground chemical contamination, which is so costly to remediate, few projects could financially overcome what is almost sure underground contamination. Like the years planning and fighting to build the Walgreens at SMB and Crescent Hgts. It was once a gas station and repair before it was turned into a strip mall. How fast did Wallgreens run from years… Read more »
Not really weho news. Regardless how the residents or city feels, it is not in our city. This could pose the same very upsetting feelings of powerlessness to fight overdevelopment that the residents have been growing more amd more upset with no ability to stop the developments already built, those under consyruction and the unknown number of planned projects to come. It is a very distressing feeling to residents whose lhomes and lives are or will be soon significantly disturbed for the worse and forever. Perhaps the motivation behond the city of West Hollywood for being angry with the projects… Read more »