New Frank Gehry project on Sunset Boulevard moves forward with a few compromises

A planned mixed-use development from Frank Gehry and located on Sunset Boulevard will be moving forward after the Planning and Land Use Management Committee voted unanimously to approve the plans.

As the Los Angeles Times reports, however, a few compromises were required before the project could move forward. As it stands now, the project consists of two residential towers comprising 229 units (38 of which are for low-income residents), 65,000 sf of commercial space, and a pedestrian plaza. The project arrived at these numbers after the area’s councilman, David Ryu, said he would not support the development unless the 15-story residential tower was downsized, included more affordable housing units, and had additional parking spots added.

All of these conditions were met causing the tower to shrink from 234 feet to 178 feet, the number of parking spots to increase to 494, and the sidewalks to widened to 15 feet.

Even with the compromises, including the smaller size that makes the new tower more in line with the height of surrounding buildings, some neighboring residents are expressing a bout of NIMBYism. They believe the development will still be out of scale with the surrounding area, will ruin their views, and may produce heavy traffic in the area due to all of the new residents. Despite their concerns, the scaled-back project is moving forward.