7 Stories of Mixed-Use Proposed Just North of the Bev Center

The 8500 Burton apartments/Trader Joe's project could be getting a bookend on the other side of the Beverly Center. Assuming Obamageddon doesn't shut it down, tonight the Mid-City West Community Council's Planning and Land Use Committee is set to look at a proposal for a seven story mixed-use building on La Cienega, just north of Beverly. The area's a small dead zone between the Beverly Center/Sofitel Hotel action just south and the Melrose Place/Koi action a bit farther north--right now it's pretty much just wall-to-wall tiny little shops. Currently, the proposed building site has four one-story commercial buildings and a two-sided billboard on it. Developer Beverly La Cienega LLC wants to put up a seven stories with 45 apartments, two levels of commercial space, and five levels of underground parking with 129 spaces. The architect is Togawa Smith Martin, which is also working on the Rick Caruso-developed 8500 Burton just down La Cienega.

According to Beverly La Cienega's application to the city, the 45 apartments proposed would be on the third through seventh floors of the building and include 32 studios, eight one-bedrooms, and two two-bedrooms, ranging from 684 square feet to 1,388 square feet. There'd also be a common room and courtyard on the third floor and a roof garden. The 19,860 square feet of commercial space would include a restaurant , three groundfloor retail spaces, and second floor office space. BLC wants to demolish the existing two-sided billboard and replace it with one sign "to be incorporated into the south side" of the building.

Beverly La Cienega put out a statement today saying "It is our vision to design and build a top-notch residential-retail project that will represent a dramatic improvement to the existing site and continue to help revitalize La Cienega...As we are at the very beginning stages of the entitlement process, we have just begun to meet with community groups and individuals in the neighborhood."