City staff members briefed a subcommittee of the West Hollywood Planning Commission on Thursday about the revamped Movietown Plaza development project.
The current design features two seven-story buildings that will house condominiums, down from 10 floors, and retail space totaling 26,000 square feet, which is a 20 percent reduction from the original design. There are also five- and six-story buildings that will have retail space and senior citizen apartment units on the property in the 7300 block of Santa Monica Boulevard.
The project remains very similar to the design approved by the City Council in 2010, according to a staff report. However, some changes have been made to the Santa Monica Boulevard facades, landscaping and other relatively subtle aspects of the design.
"The primary modification has been in the design of the exterior skin of each building," the report states. "The buildings remain in the modernist vocabulary with substantial glazing and balconies."
The commission's three-member Design Review Subcommittee responded with guidance to Community Development Department planners Emily Stadnicki and Stephanie Reich on how to advise the project's applicant.
Real estate developer Avalon Bay Communities has hired architectural firm Van Tilburg, Banvard & Soderbergh to design the project.
"I think it could be a little more transparent and a little more exciting," Planning Commissioner Roy Huebner said of the front facades that face Santa Monica Boulevard. "It looks a little disjointed and busy. I would like to see maybe a little more of the same symmetry that is on the rest of the building."
Planning Commissioner John Altschul agreed.
"My concern is that the Santa Monica frontage be vibrant, and be alive, and be something that attracts people's view ... and not come to the conclusion that it's just apartments over a store," Altschul added. "It's got to have some zest."
Planning Commissioner David Aghaei praised the reduction of the building's mass.
"It seems more in line and in scale with the other buildings in the surrounding neighborhood," he said.
Altschul noted that the square footage reduction indicated a change in land use, not the project's design. This deprives the city of commercial tax revenue and could require a new round of Planning Commission or city council approval, he said.
City planners will eventually decide when the project is ready for building permits.
West Hollywood residents attended the meeting and shared their views on the development.
"I appreciate the fact that this has been reduced in terms of height, but what I don't get is how a height reduction has any kind of significantly less impact on the community," Cathy Blaivas said. "It's fewer stories, but it's the same amount of apartments, it's the same amount of people, and this area is going to have a very difficult time handling the influx that's going to be happening within the next five to seven years."
City Council candidate Steve Martin favored more space buffering the buildings from Santa Monica Boulevard in order to create more opportunities for outdoor dining and make the property more walkable.
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You have to prove there are ample supplies of WATER to sustain the viability of the project with adequate reserves. On one of the oldest grids in the power grid and assuming no more power is coming down Path 15 how did you supply power without impacting the grid and prove adequate reserves in the system? Well, if greening a project means you build full to the lot and then your retail spaces buy a permit for half the sidewalk I'm not exactly sure you greened our environment? Steve Martin offered you a very reasonable solution to us not tripping over your restaurant seats, please setback your spaces? Finally, I don't really believe our council members nor planning department really know the definition of planning. For us to encourage massive projects built full to the lot in our city truly undermines the breath of green space we need, light and air spatial relationships and finally why the hell are we the only city doing this? Cause I don't see Beverly Hills jamming their streets with traffic, choking traffic with more traffic nor any other town so committed to demolishing it's history, it's character and it's last open areas to concrete.
I don't know how you can call this project scaled down. Even at 7 stories, it doesn't fit in with the rest of the area. There are no other 7 story buildings anywhere close by. And, by just making each apartment/condo smaller, who is going to want to buy these units? I believe nobody is going to want to buy the units facing Santa Monica Blvd anyway. Or is that where they are going to put the seniors? In the noisy SMB facing units? Anyway you look at it, the project stinks. That part of SMB is gridlocked traffic all times of the day anyway. This project will just make it worse. Find a place on the west side for something like this. We have enough going with all the stuff being built on La Brea.
The Planning Commission is an absurd body of cherry picked appointees who can only offer their collective voted on 'opinions' which the City Council has no obligation to listen or follow them. It does make the concerned residents feel like they are able to affect major developments that will affect their homes/apartments/businesses/neighborhood, while the Developers go through with their plans knowing the Council will not stop the basic oversized project that has been greenlighted in closed door meetings. As for the style, I'll say again .... Double the height of the tower(s) and cut the foot print of the tower in half. Then place the taller tower in the middle of the property, making green open space, adequate driveway entry/exit and more desirable residences which might actually sell .... without the continuing "Canyon-ization" of SMB into a canyon of 5-7 story mixed used that go right up to the property lines and cut out all sunlight. MAKES FOR AN UGLY CITY
We seem to specialize in badly designed Buildings.
Van Tilburg is a very good architectural choice. The only light in what I perceive to be an ugly and oversized project that will overwhelm the property it is on and further turn our side of town into a high density, over driven and traffic nightmare. I do not like the project.
A tall narrow tower with a lot of space around it is very much less obtrusive overall, to the neighbors adjacent and the people who will someday hopefully want to live in the project. I mean .... start from total scratch on the design, but not any larger or more square footage overall. Not going to happen, but everyone would be happier .... if that size project is going to be built.
That is what all this development is doing all over the east side. I like the old rule of no more than two stories.