DEIR released for LACMA over-Wilshire gallery design: Deadline to comment is Dec. 15

| November 30, 2017 | 0 Comments

RENDERING shows new design at LACMA, looking west.
Atelier Peter Zumthor & Partner / The Boundary

Comments on traffic, parking and other issues stemming from a proposed new museum building at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) will be accepted through Fri., Dec. 15.

The public review process is for a recently released Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR). Neighbors heard an overview last month of the $650-million project designed to sweep across Wilshire Blvd. by Swiss architect Peter Zumthor.

“I’m sure there’s going to be too much traffic. That’s just the way it is,” said Jim O’Sullivan, president of the Miracle Mile Residential Association, after a cursory look at the 3,000-page DEIR.

“We’re excited to see these things done and finished, but it’s like everything else that happens… Sacramento says we’re not going to need cars…” he added.

Parking is at a premium in the area, which also will welcome the new Academy Museum of Motion Pictures under construction next door and set to open in 2019.

Groundbreaking for the new LACMA building is targeted for 2019, with an opening in 2023 — the same time as the Metro Purple Line subway extension — which has a stop across from the two museums.

However, public transportation, access via bicycles and on foot, will not totally eliminate vehicle traffic and parking challenges.

“They’re not all going to take the train,” said O’Sullivan.

An average 1.2 million people visit LACMA annually, according to the DEIR. Except in its debut stage, the number is not expected to rise since the new 387,500-square-foot museum is 5,375 square feet less than the four buildings it will replace.

The parking will also stay the same, with 910 parking spaces at both the underground Pritzker Parking Garage entered from Sixth St., and a new structure proposed for Ogden Dr. to replace the existing Spalding Ave. lot.

The project website is at buildinglacma.org.

The Draft EIR is also available on CD-ROM at the Fairfax and Memorial branch libraries.

Send comments to Peter Burgis, Capital Projects, County of Los Angeles, 500 W. Temple St., Room 754, Los Angeles, 90012; pburgis@ceo.lacounty.gov.

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Category: Real Estate

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