The face of Echo Park is certainly changing, but so far the redevelopment and increasing fanciness in the neighborhood hasn't hit the eastern edge of the neighborhood as hard. That's set to change: Eastsider LA is reporting that demolition is imminent for a segment of the old Metropolitan Water District campus located on Sunset Boulevard at the eastern edge of Echo Park—technically, Victor Heights.
News of the demo came via a notice posted to fencing around the property, announcing that the owners would pursue a city demolition permit in 30 days.
About 98,000 square feet of property neighboring the luxurious Elysian tower is slated to be cleared away, mostly likely for a new mixed-use development on part of the old MWD site. (Though it was the office tower of the MWD, the Elysian has different ownership than this property and is not part of the demolition plans.)
Included in the demolition is the MWD building, designed by William Pereira in the 1960s. Pereira, a prolific architect in Los Angeles, also designed LACMA’s original buildings, CBS Television City, and the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco. Also on the chopping block is the sanctuary of the Holy Hill Community Church built in the 1990s.
The writing was on the wall for the Holy Hill sanctuary and former MWD campus as far back as 2014 when news broke that the newly bankrupt church was selling the property for $55 million. Palisades Capital Partners, a development firm based in Beverly Hills (not Beijing, as previously reported), scooped up the property for just $30 million in 2015.
Firm plans have not emerged for the future of the land, but Palisades Capital was considering a mixed-use building with retail facing Sunset Boulevard. The 5.3-acre property is currently zoned for 576 residential units.
Aside from the Elysian tower, development has been relatively quiet on the far eastern edges of Echo Park, though not for lack of trying. There is a bold apartment complex going up further up Sunset, near the newly christened Vin Scully Avenue.
- Bulldozers headed for office and church complex near Echo Park [Eastsider LA]
- Touring the Breathtaking and Expensive New Apartments at Echo Park's The Elysian [Curbed LA]
- Huge Mixed-Use Development Headed For the Echo Park/Chinatown Border [Curbed LA]
- Eastern Echo Park Could Get a Gamechanging Mixed-User [Curbed LA]
Loading comments...