Los Feliz has been mostly comfortable with the tiny, Vista-Theatre-adjacent Hotel Los Feliz—the neighborhood council supported it, anyway—but they are not feeling so sure about a mixed-user that would take out the AutoZone across the street, at Hillhurst and Hollywood, and replace it with about 202 apartments and about 15,000 square feet of retail space, for a project called City Lights. The Los Feliz Neighborhood Council has passed a request that the city put off granting any of the variances necessary for the project until they can review the plans in more detail, according to the Los Feliz Ledger. An independent website and a petition (with 151 signatures) have also been created, each demanding that the project be smaller, in step with Los Feliz architecture (no design has been revealed yet), and more responsible about whatever traffic it will produce.
The neighborhood council wasn't too clear on why they wanted more time, but the website and petition are very clear about what they don't like in this development. Traffic is a big complaint and both the website and the petition say that the development should increase its parking (it already includes 397 spaces). Because of its proximity to the Vermont/Sunset Red Line station, the project was able to qualify for "relaxed" parking requirements.
The petition and the website also say the size and style of the project are inconsistent with the neighborhood; they'd like to see it look a little more like the rest of the buildings in Los Feliz, and maybe incorporate the old Hollywood Ford building. (Previous LFL reports called it both "abandoned" and an "eyesore.")
In renderings by Warren Techentin Architecture that will not be used for the project, City Lights is shown to be six stories tall; the neighborhood council referred to it as "the largest proposed project in Los Feliz in recent history." No renderings of the actual project have been released yet.
Developers have asked for three zoning variances for the project—they want to combine two parcels and remove the alley between them, reduce a street setback by a third, and build higher than the code allows. In October, the LFNC sent a letter of approval for the project to the city Zoning Administrator, just asking that the developer add 25 more parking spaces and not allow noise after 10 pm on the rooftop decks. The developer, Chandler Pratt Partners and Hollyhill Developers, LLC, agreed to those terms.
· LFNC Wants "City Lights" Project Stalled For Further Review [LFL]
· Mixed-User in the Works for Corner of Hollywood/Hillhurst [Curbed LA]
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