Six-story apartments eyed at Santa Monica and La Cienega

Mixed-use complex at notable West Hollywood juncture would include 30 units with ground-floor shops and restaurants

Renderings of the project at 8500 Santa Monica Blvd (Tighe Architects)
Renderings of the project at 8500 Santa Monica Blvd (Tighe Architects)

A developer has filed plans to build a 30-unit apartment building at Santa Monica and La Cienega in West Hollywood.

A builder listed as 8500 WH has proposed building the six-story, triangular complex at 8500 Santa Monica Blvd., Urbanize Los Angeles reported. The mixed-use project would require razing a single-story commercial building now home to a bike tour business.

The proposed project would include 30 one- and two-bedroom apartments above 3,800 square feet of ground-floor shops and restaurants, plus a two-level underground parking garage for 33 cars.

It calls for the approval of a 50-percent density bonus for setting aside five affordable apartments to be rented by low- and very low-income households.

The charcoal-and-white building, designed by Mid-City-based Tighe Architecture, would be sheathed in stucco, wood panels, concrete, and metal. Plans show stacked outdoor balconies, a rooftop patio deck with a tree, and a six-story mural of a stone-faced man looking out across Santa Monica and La Cienega boulevards.

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West Hollywood planners, however, weren’t all in for its stark design.

“Given its prominent location in the city, a well-conceived, intentionally programmed, and finely detailed project has the potential to become a pivotal point and asset within the center of the city,” reads the conclusion of a staff report to a design subcommittee. “With respect to its building performance and environmental consciousness, the project reflects a multitude of the city’s goals and aspirations for new development.

“Yet, with respect to larger issues related to climate and regenerative design strategies for green space, native soil enrichment, wildlife propagation, energy reduction goals, and combating heat island passively, the project has a way to go,” it said.

Across the street, a larger mixed-use project is poised to replace a stretch of small commercial buildings at 8555 Santa Monica Boulevard, according to Urbanize. To the north, on La Cienega, construction is now underway for a 23-unit terraced apartment complex designed by LOHA.

[Urbanize Los Angeles] – Dana Bartholomew

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