No Resemblance to Fairway Building

In the recent controversy over the Fairway Building in Studio City I have been unfairly painted with the same brush as the developer of that building. On Aug. 24, The Times quoted Polly Ward, president of Studio City Residents Assn., saying a building about to be constructed at Ventura Boulevard and Blue Canyon Avenue, on land I partially own, would be similar to the Fairway Building.

This is completely false. Our development consists of two buildings, not one contrived as two. Measured at the center, the front building rises 44 feet above the curb. The rear building, situated on a shelf cut into the hill, rises 56 feet above the curb. From the street one will not be aware of the rear building. The crest of our lot is 65 feet above the curb, and adjoining property to the rear continues up another 40 or 50 feet. Our entire project finishes well below existing residences. In every respect, it obeys the letter and spirit of the boulevard moratorium.

Furthermore, no air conditioners or other mechanical equipment will be placed on the roof, and I have promised our neighbors that I will landscape the roof. They won’t even know they’re looking down on a building.

Mrs. Ward and other members of the association have taken a “Chicken Little” attitude toward all Ventura Boulevard construction as a result of the Fairway Building. I hold no brief for that developer and in fact feel sincere sympathy for the neighbors affected by his ugly, inappropriately situated structure. So please, don’t give me the burden of his error. Let me do my job in peace and prove that I will improve my neighborhood, not deface it.

IRWIN SPECTOR

Studio City