A mixed-use development that would be built behind the historic Hollywood Palladium is being considered by the city.

If approved, the Palladium Residences would be made up of two 28-story towers built behind the Hollywood Palladium. (rendering courtesy Crescent Heights Palladium LLC)

The Central Hollywood Neighborhood Council last month voted to support the Palladium Residences project — with conditions. A public hearing before city planning staff members is set for April 15, and then it will be presented to the Los Angeles Planning Commission later this year.

This is the culmination of more than a year-and-a-half of preparation by the developer, Crescent Heights Palladium LLC.

“We went door-to-door and met with over 10,000 people who lived within a two-mile radius of the project site to get input from all of our neighbors last year,” project spokesman Aaron Green said. “We’re very proud of our outreach on this project. It’s been a very engaged process with our neighbors and the community.”

The Palladium Residences would be located at 6201 Sunset Blvd. and 1541 N. El Centro Ave. The plans call for two 28-story towers constructed over ground floor retail space.

“This has been a tremendously underutilized property and part of Hollywood for years,” Green said. “Hollywood has been asking, and we have heard this from many of our neighbors as well as members of the business community, that they would like to see this site developed.”

Specifically, Green added, there have been calls for residential rental units in the area.

The developer’s proposal calls for either 731 apartments or a combination of up to 598 apartments and up to 250 hotel rooms. The property’s entitlements allow for either scenario, but Green said the owners are leaning toward all residential and the towers would look identical in either plan.

“We have multiple areas in the project that will have community-serving retail that will be used by both our tenants and those who live and work in Hollywood,” Green added.

There is 24,000 square feet of retail space in the plans, and representatives said they hope to have at least one restaurant and three other retailers.

The project, including the Hollywood Palladium, would include a total of 927,354 square feet. The towers would rise from what is now parking lots, and the parking lost (approximately 248 spots) would be included in a parking structure with 1,993 parking spots for all the uses on the property. There is also 33,000 square feet of planned open space.

“We feel there is a tremendous amount of attention in the area, especially with what is happening to the east of us and the north of us,” Green said. “We really want to enliven both of those streets.”

Milagros Lizarraga, president of the Central Hollywood Neighborhood Council (CHNC), said the board approved the project, but there are still issues they will be keeping an eye on.

The CHNC wanted the developer to better address sound due to the concert venue being so close to residential units.

“We want to make sure that everyone who lives in this project has an exceedingly high quality of life, not just from the Palladium and any noise there, but also ambient noise from the outside,” Green countered.

CHNC also requested that the developer keep in mind rent reductions for people who work nearby, and that it examine the possibility of affordable housing units.

“I would really like if they had offered a portion of the units for affordable housing because gentrification is a problem,” Lizarraga said.

Green said that part of the project’s allure is the fact that it is two blocks away from the Hollywood/Vine subway station and almost a dozen bus stops.

“That’s part of the foundation of this project, getting people out of their vehicles and on foot,” he said. “We encourage people who work in Hollywood to live in Hollywood.”

Green said the developer was committed to working with nearby employers in the Hollywood community to provide incentives for employees who would work nearby.

Lizarraga said she and other board members were concerned with parking at the project and, specifically, plans that would offer a discount to residents who did not want to utilize a parking space. They felt that would force more vehicles into the parking-starved nearby neighborhoods. Green said the project would have the required spaces for each unit.

Lizarraga added that past projects the CHNC has considered had signficant opposition, but Palladium Residences did not.

“One of our main concerns is that sometimes there is no follow-through [by the developer with these types of projects],” she added. “It is very, very important that the community really has a voice. If there is any concern, they need to bring it up.”