The property at 401 N. Robertson Blvd. has been vacant in recent years. (photo courtesy of West Hollywood West Residents Association)

The owners of a small office building at 401 N. Robertson Blvd. have planned to redevelop the property and on Oct. 17 a meeting was hosted by MUL-MAC Architecture & Design and project architect Alex Shafer, allowing for community input on the design for a potential new structure.

No plan has yet been presented to the city, and West Hollywood West Residents Association vice president Manny Rodriguez said that once the process begins it could take more than 18 months to come to fruition, or for demolition to even begin. Rodriguez said the space was most recently used as a furniture showroom. Currently, though, there is no tenant at the site.

The property was sold in March 2022 to Lurline Bay, Harrison & Nicolas Condos. An online search reveals several renderings for potential building uses by the company. Proposed redevelopment structures would also take the property from a two- to a three-story building, and these were among the potential options presented to residents at the meeting as examples.

“There will be more meetings after it is designed and submitted [by the] Planning Commission, other required neighborhood meetings and possibly City Council,” Rodriguez said. “The property is not zoned for three stories, so they will be asking for special permission (variance) because they are offering an affordable unit on the third floor.”

He added that the community members who attended seemed not to be opposed to a useful project on what Rodriguez deemed “a long-neglected site.”

“It was not a requirement for the design team to meet with the neighbors at this stage,” he added. “The WHWRA appreciates the effort made by the architects to reach out and solicit comments from the community before beginning the official development process with the city.”

West Hollywood city planner Adrian Gallo emphasized that “the architect has not formally submitted the project. They were looking for feedback from the community before moving forward.”

Gallo said that additional community meetings and public hearings would follow once a project was officially submitted.

“The request requires planning commission approval,” he said. “The intent of meeting with the adjacent neighbors is to balance the needs of and interests of the developer with the community.”

“We had a very productive meeting last night with the community members, and we’re still in the process of digesting and organizing all of the feedback we received,” a statement from the MUL-MAC Architecture & Design team read. “We’ve not begun the design of the project at this time and our primary purpose of the meeting last night was just to reach out to the community and listen to what they had to say.”