A controversial mixed-use project on Sunset Boulevard near the historic Chateau Marmont hotel is making its way through the city planning process, even as a growing contingent of residents expresses heated opposition to the plan.
Reaction so far has been largely hostile to a draft environmental impact report for the $200 million project at 8150 Sunset Blvd. released by the Los Angeles City Planning Department late last month.
Beverly Hills developer Townscape Partners has proposed constructing a three-level building of up to 16 stories with 249 apartments and about 111,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space on the 2.6-acre site just east of the West Hollywood city line. The site now houses a two-story shopping center that is home to a martial arts school; a dry cleaner; a cash advance service; a bank; and several fast-food restaurants, including a McDonald’s with a drive-through window.
Tyler Siegel of Townscape said he and partner John Irwin bought the property in 2012 with backing from New York investment firm Angelo Gordon & Co. The team had a vision of taking the underutilized site and redeveloping it into something more fitting for a gateway to the Sunset Strip.
“We saw an opportunity to develop a really handcrafted mixed-use project in Los Angeles with a real understanding of what was lacking in the city and how we could innovate here,” he said. (See rendering on page 2.)
But more than 150 residents, businesses and organizations wrote to the department, many arguing that the developers have shown little understanding of the area and its development needs.
Andrew Macpherson, treasurer of Save Sunset Boulevard Inc., a nonprofit formed about a year ago to mount a legal battle against the project, said residents in the area generally support development on the site, but not of the size and style Townscape has proposed.
“What these developers have proposed is really a hideous monstrosity,” he said. “I’m neither anti-development nor (against) people making a profit. But what I am against is having a 16-story building plunked down in the middle of this historic area. It should be a six- or eight-story building, and it should be designed and built with care and consideration for the neighborhood.”
Opponents’ main concerns with the project have to do with its height and impact on local traffic. At approximately 216 feet at its tallest point, they said the building would tower over its low-rise neighbors and block some residents’ views of the city from the Hollywood Hills. Plus, they contend that hundreds of new residents could mean more cars in the already traffic-choked neighborhood.
The city’s draft EIR found that any impact the project would have on views would be “less than significant.”
“The project would not obstruct focal or panoramic views across the project site or alter an existing recognized or valued public view,” the report read.
Furthermore, the EIR said traffic impacts – both during and after construction – would not be significant enough to require mitigation measures.
Opposition remains
Those findings, however, have done nothing to quell concerns of residents. The Save Sunset group has hired Pasadena development and land-use lawyer Robert Silverstein, who has represented dozens of resident groups in recent years against big developers in the area, to contest Townscape’s plans.
In an email, Silverstein said the group’s fight over the project will be about taking a stand against a “culture of secrecy and law-breaking” in L.A. city politics.
“A project proposal as grossly over scale and environmentally damaging as this should never have seen the light of day,” he wrote. “But instead, we know it will have the full backing of the mayor and City Council. This is another example of our elected officials elevating special interests and favored developers over the rights of the public.”
Townscape’s Irwin said he and Siegel expected a fight, which is one of the reasons why the developers applied to the state in January to be named an Environmental Leadership Development Project. Such a designation, awarded to the 8150 Sunset project by Gov. Jerry Brown in May, essentially allows a project to be fast-tracked through the court system – including the appeals process – in nine months. In exchange, the project must bring more than $100 million in investment to California, create living-wage jobs, achieve a minimum LEED Silver certification and net no additional emissions of greenhouse gases.
“We were interested in the expedited judicial time frames that we’d be subject to after city approval of our project,” Irwin said. “It seems to be commonplace throughout Los Angeles that projects of any real size get sued, so we were interested in shortening that time we’d be held up in courts.”
The Sunset Boulevard project was the first and only mixed-use project to receive such a designation from the state; only two wind farms and Apple Inc.’s Cupertino campus have also been so designated.
Cyd Zeigler, vice president of the Hollywood Hills West Neighborhood Council, said he wasn’t surprised to hear a developer building in Hollywood would seek such a special designation, considering widespread anti-development sentiment in the area.
“To a certain extent I’m sure they don’t want to listen to the stakeholders. But my job is really not to take a side. I believe my job is to figure out what is best for the neighborhood, and find somewhere in the middle we can all meet and shake hands,” he said. “The developers have heard us on some issues, and that’s encouraging. I hope they continue to listen. And I hope the residents do the same – this is not a one-way street.”
