Silver Creek OK’d to redevelop Viper Room with WeHo highrise

Silver Creek Development has received a green light to redevelop the famous Viper Room nightclub in West Hollywood with an 11-story hotel and apartment highrise.

The Scottsdale, Arizona-based developer led by Franck Ruimy was approved by the West Hollywood City Council to build the tower on a block-long site at 8850 Sunset Boulevard, Urbanize Los Angeles reported. The historic Viper Room would be demolished.

Plans for the sculptural highrise call for a revamped Viper Room, 78 apartments and a 90-room five-star hotel with meeting rooms. Of the apartments, 164 will be set aside as affordable.

The 125-foot tower will include 28,000 square feet of  restaurants, cafes and bars, plus a 6,750-square-foot replacement lounge for the Viper Room. A parking garage would serve 232 cars.

The plans represent Silver Creek’s third vision for a redevelopment of the iconic nightclub on the south side of the Sunset Strip, between Larrabee Street and San Vicente Boulevard.

The project, designed by Miami-based Arquitectonica, was revised in May of last year to include twice the number of homes than its original design. The architect tossed out a box-shaped design in favor of undulating balconies and cascading terrace decks on the top floors. 

The new highrise will include a glass-heavy facade, balconies, LED panels and drought-tolerant landscaping, while creating a public plaza along the street and a central breezeway that cuts through the building toward a park-like setting off Sunset Boulevard.

The new Viper Room, on the ground floor, will have a tall glass entrance, larger concert stage and auditorium, memorabilia hall and a recording studio.

A timeline for the development was not disclosed, although construction is expected to take three years.

The original plan included a controversial 200-foot tall building, designed by Morphosis, that had a white claw rising to the side and then cantilevering over a traditional 15-story tower with 115 hotel rooms and 41 condominiums.

Silver Creek Development, which has a Brentwood office, is an affiliate of REM Finance, based in Scottsdale. In 2018, REM Finance bought the Viper Room and three other properties on Sunset for $80 million.  

In August 2022, Silver Creek secured a $62 million loan to finance the Viper room makeover. 

The Viper Room, the rock club once partially owned by Johnny Depp, started out as a jazz club called the Melody Room that was said to be frequented by mobsters Bugsy Malone and Mickey Cohen. It was known as Central in the 1970s and 1980s.

A year after The Viper Room reopened in 1993, the actor River Phoenix died after suffering a drug overdose on the premises. It soon became a hangout for such young Hollywood stars as Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire, who came to see such acts as Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Johnny Cash and Courtney Love. Depp sold his interest in the club in 2004.

8850 Sunset follows a series of similar hotel-condominium projects on the Sunset Strip, including the Edition Hotel & Residences and the Pendry Hotel & Residences, and new projects in the works at 8240 and 9034 Sunset Boulevard, according to Urbanize.

— Dana Bartholomew

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