Townscape Partners’ mixed-use project proposal at 8150 Sunset Blvd. has been designated as an Environmental Leadership Development Project (ELDP) by Gov. Jerry Brown’s office.
The developers of 8150 Sunset are currently preparing the project’s draft EIR. (photo courtesy of Townscape Partners)
According to a press release, the designation makes 8150 Sunset the first mixed-use development and urban infill project to receive the honor. It’s also the first project in Los Angeles County to be designated.
“We want to be a steward for environmental leadership and an engine for job creation in California,” said Tyler Sigel, of Townscape Partners. “Our goal with 8150 Sunset is to help move Los Angeles, as well as the state as a whole, one step closer to reducing our carbon footprint.”
The developers are looking to construct 111,000 square feet of commercial space and 249 apartments at the property on the southwest corner of Sunset and Crescent Heights boulevards. Plans have been filed with the city, and Townscape Partners is currently working on the project’s draft environmental impact report, which is slated to be released this year.
Currently, the 2.56-acre site houses a McDonald’s, Chase Bank, storage facility and other small retailers. The property was once home to The Garden of Allah in the 1950s.
The Hollywood Hills West Neighborhood Council has yet to take a position on the project, though it has discussed the proposal. The project is actually within the jurisdiction of the Bel Air-Beverly Crest Neighborhood Council. The two councils are separated by Laurel Canyon Boulevard.
Officials with the Bel Air-Beverly Crest Neighborhood Council could not be reached for comment by deadline.
Anastasia Mann, president of Hollywood Hills West Neighborhood Council, said congestion on Sunset Boulevard is the main concern for some people who oppose the project, but some area residents have spoken in favor of upgrading that particular city block.
“It’s a very divided issue,” she said.
Mann said traffic on Sunset Boulevard is already a challenge, as many people use Laurel Canyon Boulevard as a passageway to the San Fernando Valley.
“There’s already quite a bit of a roadblock there every day,” she said.
However, members of the Hollywood Hills West Neighborhood Council recognize that development and change is a fact of life, Mann said. They want to ensure that commercial entities and residents communicate and cooperate, she said.
Mann said the council will make a decision on whether to support the project once it has heard from Townscape Partners and the community.
“No one has approached us to do that yet,” she said.
At least one resident has voiced concerns that the ELDP designation could impact opponents’ legal recourse, as the ELDP program requires that California Environmental Quality Act challenges be concluded within 270 days of “the certification of the administrative record.”
A spokesman for Townscape Partners said the 270-day limit would begin on the first court date — if any opposition opts to pursue litigation. According to the release, the challenges would still be heard first in Los Angeles Superior Court.
The release states that the designation does not impact the development approval process. The city of Los Angeles is still the lead agency, and the honor only allows for a streamlined judicial review after the city’s approval.
To qualify as an ELDP, a project must bring more $100 million in an investment to California, create high-wage and highly skilled jobs, achieve at a minimum a LEED Silver certification and result in zero net additional emissions of greenhouse gases. Only four projects have been designated in the state so far.
8 Comments
Finally something is being done with this terrible site. The current strip mall is a blight on the neighborhood and I welcome a new project that will bring more people to the neighborhood and more restaurants and shops that I would actually frequent. The fact that this project will go above and beyond environmentally is the cherry on the cake.
This is another oversized and out of scale for the area project. Most concerning is Gov. Brown signing the ELDP to ‘fasttrack’ this project.
How many more developers of controversial mega projects, opposed by most stakeholders in communities, will be standing in line to be fast tracked, tieing the hands of those wanting to try to protect their communities and surrounding areas. Does every project have to be massive, and oversized, tieing up streets with more gridlock, blocking out sky and sun, fortresses of glass and steelwalls towering over and around communities of lovely single family homes? The door is closing on resident’s rights to protect their communities as tragically reappointed by Garcetti, LoGrande and appointed as head of LABDS Chan are working on re:zoning LA, turning LA over to developers, creating a by right city so no one will have rights to protect anything here anymore. As a heartless Garcetti said to a packed City Hall,on council floor, when he got the illegal higher density Hollywod Community Plan passed (since thrown our by Judge Goodman, who ruled in favor of three law suits against it) “if you dont like higher density..move” and Villaraigosa said ‘gone will be the days of single family homes with front and back yards’ once his (non) elegant density kicked in. They have turned our city over to developers and care nothing about people who live here. Be careful who you vote for. Prang wants to eliminte CEQA to make things easier for developers,. Keuel does not. Shriver is for ‘economic development’ and business, and is supported by developer supported (and raping our communities) Hollywood Chamber PAC… And Brown signed the fast track thing for this project, as thousands clamored begging him for a reprieve. And he is not so supportive of CEQA either. And the developer friendly mayor? It is too late. He is destroying LA one neighborhood after another. We will have to endure his NON planning and sale of our city to developers awhile longer.
This is a very controversial project. Many e-mails and phone calls went out to politicos and Jerry Brown to stop the fastracking. All were ignored. There are law suits and the Chateau Marmont involved. The scoping meeting was attended by many many irate and furious stakeholders. They hired an attorney. They have had fundraisers.
Included in e-mails that were sent were some of the issues with this project:
There are numerous CEQA issues that need further investigation, clarification, and transparency, such as:
1.) The 500 plus residents, 311 employees and countless delivery trucks will generate over 5000 new vehicle movements a day, worsen the air quality and adding a massive amount of congestion to one of the busiest and most dangerous intersections in Hollywood.
2.) This building will destroy one historic building, and tower over a dozen more, including the iconic Chateau Marmont Hotel. It will completely destroy the heart of Hollywood’s historic residential area, one of LA’s great architectural treasure troves.
3.) The site is dangerously close to the earthquake fault line known as the Alquist-Priolo Zone, which runs under Sunset/La Cienega Boulevards. Since the California Geological Survey is updating their map, due out in July of 2014, it is imperative that that information be included in any determination regarding constructing such a large structure so close to a fault line.
4.) The entire structure, which classified as 16 stories, but is actually 22 when one includes the parking levels, is massively out of scale, height, and density in relation to any other structure within a two mile radius.
*5.) The developer, (Townscape LLC) have shown themselves to be abusive in their harassment of the existing tenants in the complex as Townscape placed undue pressure on these merchants by unilaterally imposing non-contractual parking arms, costing patrons exorbitant sums to enter the shopping area – these were proven illegal in court, and Townscape was required to remove them, but the damage to the merchants’ clienteles was already done.
6.) The daily flow of traffic at Sunset Boulevard and Crescent Heights is currently at an untenable density, worrying the Los Angeles Fire Department and other emergency services that service the area. The intersection is already categorized by the as one of the most dangerous in the city.
7.) There is no way that the 900 bicycles they suggest parking for can work in an area with hills as steep as those in San Francisco and more traffic than New York
8.) It is over two miles from the site to the nearest metro stop, and the traffic is so bad that what few busses there are, are slower than walking. Furthermore, the claim the developers make that there are transportation hubs within a half-mile radius is false. The bus stops that are nearby are local and serviced by 2 – 3 lines only. Therefore, their claim that there will be 10% greater efficiency in the number of vehicle trips per resident cannot be true – bicycles on Sunset Boulevard and the steep hills of Crescent Heights and Havenhurst are a suicidal prospect, at best; and the bus transportation is woefully inadequate.
9) Furthermore, there is no mention or inclusion in the developers’ plans for parking for the hundreds of employees required to manage, maintain, and service such a huge structure, replete with attendant business establishments. Parking is already untenably overcrowded in surrounding streets.
Please make a note of these objections, and the other letters I have included that support our position that this building is wholly unsuitable, out of scale, and should not be allowed to skirt and of the normal workings of the city and the law to limits is size and impact.
** Abused by the developer merchants, whom the developer pulled things on to get them out, appeared at neighborhood council meetings for help.
Correction to a previous comment I posted:
John Duran said is not for CEQA..(not Prang).
Duran was the only West Hollywood councilmember to not vote against fast tracking the project.
The developer funded his campaign.
http://www.wehoville.com/2014/05/06/weho-council-votes-oppose-expediting-approval-controversial-8150-sunset-blvd-project/
Visit savesunset facebook page.
If the City follows its customary course of action, the EIR will be another example of Accounting Control Fraud, where all the illusory benefits will be hyped and all real detriments will be omitted. Enron set the example by reporting fictitious profits and omitting losses. That is why it is also called Enron Accounting.
The Hollywood Community Plan and the Millennium were both examples of Enron Accounting frauds. The Hollywood Community Plan was so atrocious that the judge ruled that it “subverted the law.”
If constructed, this project will do for the area the same thing that Hollywood-Highland Project did for that portion of Hywd. The project lost almost $1/2 BILLION dollars. It cost $625 Million to construct and then Garcetti’s buddies at CIM Group bought it for only $201 Million.
Where did the other $424 Million go? Poof! It just disappeared and you know who financed a major portions? The taxpayers?
We should save the neighborhood and just write a check to the developer for $500 Million NOT to build anything.
I am pro-development, but anti-scam. This project can be built and improve the neighborhood and traffic in the area if smartly done. We just need effective watchdogs that can’t be bought.
In that picture, the whole thing looks monstrous. Do we need a 16 story tower? I also like how they make the streets look w i d e and with hardly any cars on the road. Why would they get rid of that turnoff road onto Crescent Heights? That’s not going to help traffic.
@Emma
It’s exactly the kind of NIMBYs like you calling for reduced density, thinking every development is too big, that is the reason that there is a severe undersupply of housing in this city, which makes it the most expensive in the country to live in when people spend over 67% percent of their incomes on housing. Land is so unbelievably expensive in this city that it is infeasbible to build anything but scaled development. Mixed use developments like this will actually internalize traffic trips, ie, everyone who lives there will decrease their traffic exits. The more everyone tries to stop development, the more expensive housing and rents get for the rest of us because you decrease supply and subsequently, you increase the cost. And don’t even try to bring in the affordable element here. There’s not remotely enough money by the state to contribute to a meaningful percentage to the cost in the form of bonds to make it worth it.
Face it, you are afraid of change and just want something to oppose but when it finally gets built, you’ll end up shopping there like everyone else.