Trenching is underway at one of the proposed Hollywood Millennium sites, as the developers work to determine whether a fault line runs beneath the potential location of the 1.1-million-square-foot project.

Construction crews have begun to dig a trench at one of the proposed sites for the Millennium Hollywood project near Argyle Avenue and Yucca Street. (photo by Aaron Blevins)

The proposal calls for two mixed-use towers that would be 35 and 39 stories tall. One tower would be on the west side of Vine Street, while the other would be just east of the Capitol Records Building, off Argyle Avenue.

Crews were beginning to dig at the Argyle Avenue site on Tuesday. According to a press release, the developers, Millennium Partners and Argent Ventures, are conducting the investigation in response to requests by representatives of the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety. City officials asked that the tests be conducted prior to the finalization of the California Geological Survey’s fault zone maps for Hollywood, the release states.

“Millennium Hollywood is steadfast in its commitment to build a safe project that conforms to the highest earthquake resiliency standards, and getting the best information possible allows us to start planning toward that reality,” Millennium Partners founding partner Philip Aarons said.

According to the release, trenching is considered the most comprehensive form of subsurface investigation. The developers had conducted other tests at the site and found no evidence of a fault, the release states.

Aarons referenced a study recently done by Group Delta for the developers of a project at 6230 Yucca St., which is just north of the proposed Millennium site on Argyle Avenue. The report concluded that no evidence of a fault exists on that property, even though the California Geological Survey’s draft map placed a splay of the fault near the site.

“Our previous studies, as well as this more recent investigation in the area, have indicated that the Hollywood Fault does not lie below our site,” Aarons said. “We are eager to prove that fact and are bolstered by the information received from the adjacent property.”

However, the department of building and safety has requested that Group Delta do additional testing at the site. Luke Zamperini, the department’s chief inspector and public information officer, said both parties agreed to additional trenching on the east side of the parcel after some inconsistent data was found in the report. He said additional testing could clear up the inconsistencies.

Attorney Robert P. Silverstein, who has filed a lawsuit against Millennium Partners and Argent Ventures on behalf of a coalition of neighborhood groups, had reservations about the Millennium developers conducting their own tests.

“I would say that the public is extremely suspicious of the Millennium Hollywood developer and the city’s building and safety department. We have seen them playing games endangering lives and breaking the law for at least the last three years,” he said, questioning why it took the developers so long to trench the property. “So that this is not … a case of the fox guarding the hen house, we hope that the state of California and other neutral experts will be involved at every step of the process to ensure that the trenches are deep enough, long enough and oriented correctly so that there is actually scientific integrity in this process. We expect that the two properties east and west of Vine will both be trenched, and that the work is done in an open and transparent manner.”

Zamperini said city and state officials, as well as Hollywood developers, are interested in determining where the Hollywood Fault is located. The California Geological Survey has released its Alquist-Priolo Earthquake Fault Zone draft map, and the city is using it “as a map zone” until the draft map is finalized, he said. The map will not specify exactly where the fault is located.

“We welcome the state fulfilling its obligations under the Alquist-Priolo Act. It makes life for us simpler too,” Zamperini added.

Silverstein said the lawsuit is still ongoing, and that the two sides will likely appear for a new trial setting conference in the next few months.