Height limit agreed on by homeowners, developer on Melrose
MELROSE-SEWARD creative office project as originally proposed at five stories tall. The developer is reducing the height to four stories in response to community concerns.
Four neighborhood homeowner groups and a developer of a creative office building on Melrose Avenue and Seward Street have reached a deal which includes reducing the proposed project’s height from five stories to four.
“We came to a win-win solution, starting with slicing a floor off the building, and setbacks on Melrose, opening retail to the public and keeping public art focused on Seward,” developer David Simon, of the Bardas Investment Group, told us.
“A favorable revised building plan and agreement” has been reached, echoed Cindy Chvatal-Keane, president of the Hancock Park Home Owners Association (HPHOA), in a statement released last month.
The parcel had been zoned for three stories, and the developer had requested a zone and height change and a traffic study to build five stories.
The five-story project was approved by the Los Angeles City Planning Commission in August in spite of neighbors’ concerns regarding the height, noise and possible impacts on the historic John C. Fremont Branch Library next door.
The neighborhoods then formed the coalition and continued to negotiate with the developer until the recent agreement was reached.
In addition to Hancock Park, the coalition included the Larchmont Village Neighborhood Association, South Hollywood Neighborhood Association, Windsor Square Association and the Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council. The offices of Council Districts 5 and 13 also worked to revise and fine-tune a plan to benefit all involved, Chvatal-Keane said.
His 30 years in business have taught developer Simon to listen to concerns from stakeholders and community members, he told us.
The creative office building — designed with outdoor space, landscaped walls, floor-to-ceiling windows and an open stairwell — will be targeted to media companies.
The 100,000-square-foot campus features 68,000 square feet of new office, retail and open space and includes two existing buildings — one of which houses Netflix.
A proposed coffee shop will be open to the public.
Other agreements include landscaping that will provide sound buffering features on all outdoor decks and vibration monitoring on the western frontage adjacent to the library during construction.
Outdoor deck hours of operation may not extend past 10:30 p.m. Saturday to Wednesday or 11 p.m. on Thursday and Friday.
The new building will replace a commercial strip that includes the home of the nonprofit Big Sunday’s headquarters. David Levinson, executive director of Big Sunday, told us a temporary site has been located nearby while a long-term solution is being sought.
The proposed Bardas project will serve as an anchor at the end of the Seward Media Corridor, which extends from Melrose Avenue to Santa Monica Boulevard.
“I want to keep Hollywood in Hollywood,” said Simon.
The project next moves to the City Council Planning and Land Use Management Committee and the City Council.
Simon said he hopes to break ground on the project in January 2023.
Category: Real Estate
