The Star, a $500M office tower project, looks to light up Hollywood

Behold the Star, a $500 million proposed office tower on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood.

Renderings for the project show an upside down egg-shaped 22-story glass and steel tower with four levels of landscaped gardens, according to the Los Angeles Times. Designed by Chinese architecture firm MAD Architects, plans also call for a funicular tram leading to the restaurant at the top floor.

The ambitious design would set it apart from the mostly low-rise buildings in the surrounding block along Gower Street, though there are some 20-story buildings a few blocks away.

The tower would rise higher than any building in Hudson Pacific Properties’ planned expansion of neighboring Sunset Gower Studios.

And at 500,000 square feet, the Star is the same size as HPP’s proposed studio expansion.

The developer behind the Star is a family partnership led by L.A.-based investor Maggie Gong Miracle, who is also a real estate agent, according to the Times. The partnership’s LLC purchased the property in 2017.

Edgar Khalatian, a Mayer Brown land use attorney representing the developers, said they would raise money for the project in the United States, according to the report. Khalatian also outlined a five-year plan for city approval and project construction. That would feasibly give the project plenty of time for the struggling L.A. office market to rebound.

MAD Architects has worked on other L.A. developments, including the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art and a hotel project in West Hollywood.

[LAT] — Dennis Lynch