Westwood Groups Fight 3 High-Rises

Three Westwood homeowner groups have united to oppose construction of three high-rise buildings on Wilshire Boulevard.

Representatives of the Westwood Homeowners Assn., the Holmby Westwood Homeowners Assn., and the Friends of Westwood cited their concern over an increase in traffic congestion and the threatened loss of the village ambiance in Westwood.

The projects they oppose are a 14-story, 215-room luxury hotel proposed for a site on Wilshire Boulevard between Gayley and Veteran avenues, and two planned high-rise buildings on both sides of Wilshire Boulevard at Glendon Avenue.

Laura Lake of Friends of Westwood, Joyce Foster of Westwood Homeowners and Sandy Brown of the Holmby Westwood group said they plan to have representatives at hearings on the projects on April 28 and April 29.

A public Planning Commission hearing on the proposed Westwood Village Hotel is scheduled for 10 a.m. April 28 in Room 215, West Los Angeles Municipal Building, 1645 Corinth Ave., West Los Angeles. The Board of Zoning Appeals will hold a public hearing on the Glendon Avenue/Wilshire Boulevard buildings at 11:30 a.m. April 29 in Room 561-A of Los Angeles City Hall.

The developers of the hotel project have requested zoning changes. Nearly half of their irregularly shaped lot at 10951 Wilshire Blvd. is zoned for parking, and part of an alley behind the lot is zoned single-family residential. Developers have asked that the entire lot be zoned commercial. The developers also applied for an amendment to the Westwood Specific Plan to permit a larger building. Foster said current zoning on the lot would permit a building with 61,200 square feet. Under the requested zoning changes, this would be increased to 162,227 square feet.

Hotel plans on file with the Planning Commission show a four-level subterranean parking area for 215 cars, with entrance and exit on Gayley Avenue.

Opponents said that Gayley Avenue is already seriously congested with traffic and that a large hotel would add to the problem.

The buildings to be considered by the Board of Zoning Appeals are a 26-story office building on the northeast corner of Wilshire and Glendon, formerly the site of Ship’s Restaurant, and a 14-story building on the southeast corner, a former bank location.

Lake said the buildings violate the Environmental Quality Act and that the sewer system is inadequate for the two buildings.