 |
| Museum Square Phase II, as designed by the Jerde Partnership (Image: Showcase.com) |
Plans for a new mid-rise office building are still forging ahead on the Miracle Mile, albeit now in slightly truncated form. This coming Thursday, the Los Angeles City Planning Commission is scheduled to review phase two of Museum Square, a 7.5-acre office and retail complex located at 5757 Wilshire Boulevard. The proposed expansion calls for the construction of a new 13-story tower, which would add 250,000 square feet of Class-A office space on a current parking lot at 620 S. Curson Avenue.
However, it appears that some minor changes have occurred since we last heard from the project. According to an agenda for the upcoming meeting of the City Planning Commission, Snyder has scaled down the proposed building's height to approximately 173 feet. Earlier designs from the Jerde Partnership featured a 207-foot tall structure, thanks to generous 14-foot ceilings.
Other aspects of the Museum Square expansion have also decreased in scale. The original plan called for new levels atop an existing five-story parking structure, augmenting its total capacity to 2,040 vehicles. Although the project will still entail the addition of two floors to the garage, total parking accommodations will expand to just 1,843 vehicle stalls. The Museum Square complex will eventually be easily accessible via Metro Rail, with a location midway between future Purple Line stations at Fairfax and La Brea Avenues.
Although an exact timeline for the office tower has not been revealed, a report from this past March indicated that Snyder was in negotiations with two specialty tenants, both of whom wished to lease the entire building. That prospective tenant would then commission its own architect to redesign the tower to best suit its needs.
- Museum Square DEIR (LADCP)
- CPC Regular Meeting - October 23, 2014 (LADCP)
- The Amazing Jerry Snyder (Bisnow)
Specialty tenant with its own architect, eh? Sounds like something big - maybe a major tech or entertainment company.
ReplyDeleteDo you reckon there's a chance that they'll have to redo parts of the EIR because of this? It sounds like the change would reduce the impacts, but who knows what Miracle Mile NIMBYs will claim.
Not really an expert on EIRs. The comments on the FEIR were relatively muted, though. Besides the usual government agencies, the only comments were from the Pres. of the MMRA, a tenant in the existing building, and a lawyer representing the adjacent apartment complex. Basically the usual strategy of throwing spaghetti and seeing if something will stick.
DeleteThat's going to have great views over the park. Curson seems a little small/narrow for this though. That area is going to be a hotbed of construction for the next five or ten years, look like. It's just the beginning of the transformation of Wilshire into the real backbone of the city. PLB can't really complain. They're already ten stories over there and have redeveloped all the available space along third.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Park La Brea has expressed any official opposition to the project, although the Museum Terrace Apartments have.
Delete