Midwood poised to replace Sportsmen’s Lodge Hotel with 520 apartments

Midwood Investment & Development has moved forward with plans to raze a Mid-century Modern hotel at Sportsmen’s Lodge in Studio City to build more than 500 apartments.

The New York-based developer was OK’d by the Los Angeles Planning Commission to build a 520-unit apartment, mixed-use complex at 12825 Ventura Boulevard, Urbanize Los Angeles reported. The Sportsmen’s Lodge Hotel would be demolished to facilitate the redevelopment.

The U-shaped lodge, built in 1962, is the last vestige of the century-old Sportsmen’s Lodge that once drew the likes of Clark Gable, Bette Davis and John Wayne north of the Los Angeles River. The 11-acre complex, originally with a fishing pond, now contains the upscale Shops at Sportsmen’s Lodge.

Plans call for a 520-unit apartment complex with 46,000 square feet of ground-floor shops and restaurants and parking for nearly 1,400 cars.

The project, dubbed the Residences at Sportsmen’s Lodge, would include a mix of studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments.

Midwood would employ a city density bonus allowing it to build a larger building than zoning rules allow in exchange for setting aside 78 units as affordable for very low-income households.

The dark gray complex, designed by Marmol Radnizer of West L.A., would include three buildings of four and seven stories with Mid-Century Modern touches reminiscent of the old hotel. It would include courtyards for residents and shoppers, plus a path to the L.A. River.

Given final approval, construction of the Residences is expected to take 43 months, aiming for completion in 2027

John Usdan, CEO of Midwood, had said the switch from hospitality to housing was a better long-term economic bet, considering the hotel drew much of its customers from Universal Studios.

“When you are dependent on a single driver of business,” Usdan told the Los Angeles Times, “it is a high-risk enterprise.”

The 95,000-square-foot Shops at Sportsmen’s Lodge, anchored by an Erewhon grocery, replaced a long-time banquet hall and bar, as well as century-old ponds where dinner patrons once caught their trout.

— Dana Bartholomew