7 Stories or 3? : Woo Seeks to Take Top Off High-Rise

Labeling a controversial Studio City office building so tall that it is “hideously out of scale,” Los Angeles City Councilman Michael Woo on Tuesday urged that its top floors be demolished.

Woo asked the city’s Building and Safety Commission to “find a way” to force the builders to lower the $4.3 million structure at the intersection of Fairway Avenue and Ventura Boulevard.

The building’s height has angered Studio City homeowners, who have complained that developer Eitan Gonen has constructed a 7-story, 95-foot tall structure with a building permit that specifies three stories and a height limit of 45 feet.

Gonen has denied wrongdoing, contending that the permit allows him to “step” the building up a hill at the project site.

Whatever the permit means, Woo said, the commission should “stop this horrendous project” by any means possible.

“I’m not asking that the entire building be torn down, but I’d like to see the upper stories of the building removed,” Woo told commission members during a City Hall hearing. Woo said he doubts the city would be required to reimburse Gonen for the cost of removing the upper floors, even if officials did approve its current height.

“Anybody who’s been out there can see this is really a serious breach of what is appropriate for Studio City. I think it’s such a problem, and such an example of hideously out-of-scale development, that it’s justified for us to call for some kind of major change--in this case lopping off the top floors of the project.”

Commission members did not act Tuesday on Woo’s suggestion. Instead, they became bogged down in a dispute about whether Studio City homeowners used the proper city form to file a formal complaint about the building’s height.

After more than three hours of debate, commissioners postponed the matter until Aug. 23.

The delay angered homeowners, who said they are worried that the nearly completed building will be finished and occupied before the city decides to take action.

‘Not Very Complicated Issue’

“Look at the plans, that’s all we ask,” said Jerome Zamos, a lawyer for the homeowners. “It’s not a very complicated issue . . . how do they lease the seventh floor of a ‘three-story building’?”

Gonen declined to comment after the hearing. But his lawyers denied it is too tall for the neighborhood or illegal.

“We’d very much like to talk with Councilman Woo,” said attorney Linda J. Bozung. “Once we can explain it’s in compliance, he’ll feel differently. We were very surprised by his comments.”

And offended, added architect Jack Hollander. “The building speaks for itself. I’m proud of it,” he said.