$200-Million Hotel and Retail Project Planned for Sunset Strip
A veteran real estate developer said Thursday that he will build a $200-million hotel and retail complex covering nearly two blocks along the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood’s fashionable Sunset Plaza district.
Sunset Millennium would feature 400 hotel rooms and 200,000 square feet of retail space, including a cinema complex and parking for 1,500 vehicles, said Mark Siffin, principal of Indianapolis-based Maefield Development Corp. He has quietly been gathering neighborhood support and said he expects to submit a formal development application to the city within 30 days.
The project would rise along the south side of Sunset Boulevard immediately west of La Cienega Boulevard. Supporters, including West Hollywood Mayor Steve Martin, see the project as a catalyst to bringing conventions to the city and boosting business along the strip.
Resident groups had vehemently opposed a substantially smaller project pursued by local developer Raleigh Enterprises in the early 1990s for much of the same site, which includes the Western International Media headquarters complex and the Tiffany Theater and parking lots, and surrounds the former Playboy Enterprises headquarters tower.
Although the project is certain to generate scrutiny during the review process, it appears that Siffin won’t face the level of opposition Raleigh did. Siffin seeks approval for less than the maximum amount of development the property is allowed under the Sunset Specific Plan the city adopted in 1996--an ordinance that increased the building heights and densities allowed on many strip-front sites but also required that portions be set aside as “view corridors.”
Siffin’s partner in the development is Canyon Capital Advisors, a Beverly Hills-based money management and investment advisory firm whose real estate interests include a high-profile redevelopment project featuring Home Depot and Price Costco stores now underway in Harlem.
“We’re not interested in projects people don’t want, and Mark has done a fabulous job” garnering support in West Hollywood, said Bobby Turner, a Canyon Capital managing partner.
Sunset Millennium would feature a 10-story hotel complex at Sunset and La Cienega boulevards. Low-rise retail buildings would be built to the west on both sides of the 10-story former Playboy building now also mostly occupied by Western International, a major West Hollywood employer that would relocate to an as-yet-undetermined new headquarters. Siffin said he has a deal to purchase the Western International property from the company’s founder, Dennis Holt, and that he might also buy the former Playboy building from a Raleigh affiliate and incorporate it as the office component of Sunset Millennium.
Siffin said the proposed project also includes 14,000 square feet of meeting and conference facilities that would be made available for live theater.
The project’s lead designer, the Santa Monica office of Gensler & Associates Architects, has developed pedestrian-interactive plans that Siffin called “complementary to Sunset Plaza.” The retail component targets upscale shops and restaurants. Siffin has had discussions with several hotel and cinema operators but has yet to sign one. He estimated that if the city gives the go-ahead, construction will take about 18 months.
Martin said he’s guardedly optimistic that the project will see sail smoothly through the approvals process, which includes neighborhood meetings, Planning Commission scrutiny and a vote by the City Council.
“West Hollywood is a very hot hotel market and I’d expect tremendous success for the project if he can get it off the ground,” said Jordan Richman, vice president of real estate brokerage Grubb & Ellis Co.’s hospitality services group in West Los Angeles. The nearby Mondrian and Bel-Age luxury hotels are performing exceptionally well, and the planned conference facilities would enhance Millennium’s prospects for success, Richman said.
Martin said Siffin’s decision not to pursue the maximum allowed development is a smart move by a developer who “recognizes he would invoke the ire of residents” if he had proposed a larger development. And despite the traffic the project would generate, the larger-than-required parking component “should turn out to be a very smart investment” that will increase foot traffic at the project’s retail shops, Martin said. He added that Siffin has worked closely with local residents to address traffic concerns.
“He’s handled it very well,” agreed Bettie Wagner, a West Hollywood resident who has taken an active role in scrutinizing proposed developments. Siffin “has met with all the neighborhood groups and listened to what people have to say.”
Siffin, 47, who grew up in Minnesota and Bangkok and spent the bulk of his career in Indiana, bought a home on Blue Jay Way near West Hollywood and has spent the better part of a year revising plans in response to input from various interests.
“It’s important to look after the interests of the residents, who are very organized,” said Siffin. “In fact, I think our project is better after getting their input.”
The developer said he’s pursuing the same consensus-building approach that resulted in approvals to develop an Indianapolis site where wealthy neighbors had rejected plans proposed by three or more major development firms.
“My father is a political scientist, so I’ve come to know how democracy works,” he said. “You go to the body politic and [devise] something that takes everyone’s interests into account.”
