Council to vote on lifting Hollywood height limits

A controversial mixed-use project slated for the corner of Sunset Blvd and Gower St is asking for an exemption from the area's 45 ft height limit. The project's developers, AREA Property Partners, have plans for a 28-story residential tower and a 17-story office tower on the site of the old CBS studios. Having already received approval from the city planning commission, the project expects to get the greenlight from city council, including council president Eric Garcetti, who happens to represents the area in question.

But the permitting of this project has consequences beyond just an isolated zoning exemption - it will change the height limits for the entire surrounding neighborhood - a historically low-lying area on Hollywood's fringes. And this is what has sparked some very vocal opposition to the tower. Local residents are mainly concerned about large buildings casting shadows over their homes and yards, but many are worried about the potential Manhattanization of a once-laidback part of town. Robert Silverstein, a local land use lawyer often involved with historic preservation said the city was "willingly [permitting] the destruction of its own past." Zoning, he says, should concentrate development in certain areas while leaving others small-scale.

And what does the developer have to say to that? AREA associate Brian Earle says it is part of the "city's desire to have more density...instead of going out we are going up." While it may sound like a developer jumping on the trendy 'denser is better' bandwagon, he has a point. Sunset and Gower is in an underdeveloped stretch of land just outside the confine's of boomy central Hollywood. If a developer thinks he can make something better out of a stretch of low-density strip malls and dingbat apartments, all the power to him. Besides, it takes a lot more to pencil a project than it used to. Hollywood has arguably become the most dense, walkable neighborhood outside of Downtown. That some locals are still enamored by the drugged-up, run-down Hollywood of old remains a mystery.

Grand Ave Scales Back Amid Recession

Frustrated by stalled progress on developer Related Co's part, Councilwoman Jan Perry of District 9 has called for a smaller project sooner. Unable to secure full financing for the Gehry-designed megaproject, New York City's Related Co. has pushed the entire $3b development to the back burner. The project, intended to be completed in phases, has shown almost no progress since its conception in 2000 and the large lot across from Disney Hall remains empty. The project was scheduled for groundbreaking in 2007.

The Grand Avenue Authority, the committee organized to oversee the project's development, is composed of city, county, and redevelopment agency stakeholders, as the project contains a large public portion. Related's West Coast president Bill Witte defends that the Civic Park portion of the project that would link Grand Ave to City Hall is expected to break ground as early as next summer. It is this portion of the project that has drawn the most frustration from local government, as the land and monetary concessions made by the public sector have yet to see any fruition.

As for the 2.5 million sf condo-hotel-retail aspect? Related is still waiting on a $700m construction loan that, considering the sickness of the condo market, will be a long time coming. Also of concern is the state of Istithmar, the royal Dubai investment fund that has put $100m into the project, and was recently found to be drowning in $26b of debt. But as Witte has tenuously assured, the Dubai money has been "pretty much spent." Meanwhile, the pressure is on to see if Related can make good on its promise to deliver at least a portion of the project before its entitlements expire in 2011.