Well we knew this would happen. Metro made a bombshell announcement last Friday that it had entered into an agreement to explore the development of a Pacific Design Center-adjacent site on Santa Monica near San Vicente in West Hollywood--with a huge mixed-use complex with two high-rise towers, residential, retail, and hotel space plus a movie theater and open air amphitheater (and a sheriff's station! and an underground bus garage!). Now the WeHo City Council and residents are miffed that they hadn't been informed--let alone consulted--about the nascent plans. And this is really early days for the project--the agreement between Metro and the Cohen Brothers Realty Corp. allows the developer to create a proposal for the site, not to run off and build it. Still, West Hollywood City Councilmember John Duran told WeHo Patch that "all five up here were pretty flabergasted" at the announcement.
But fear not, West Hollywood. A Metro official sent a statement to Patch to assuage residents' fears, writing in part: "The city of West Hollywood will have not only input, but essentially the final say in approval since as in any development, the city's design guidelines must be met. As part of the process of any development and certainly in this case, there will be multiple efforts at public outreach as well as multiple public hearings relating to any proposal prior to final submissions." In the meantime, Cohen Brothers has hired architecture firm Gruen Associates to develop a plan for the site, which is adjacent to the also Cohen-owned Pacific Design Center.
· MTA Responds to Council, Residents' Disapproval of Land Deal [WeHo Patch]
· Metro and PDC Owner Team Up for WeHo Mega-Development [Curbed LA]
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