Elite Los Angeles private school Harvard-Westlake announced Monday that it had reached an agreement to purchase Weddington Golf and Tennis, an LA River-adjacent sports complex roughly a mile from the upper school’s Studio City campus.
At the same time, the school revealed that it will put plans on hold for a three-story parking garage and athletic field along Coldwater Canyon Avenue that would connect to the main campus across the street via a pedestrian bridge.
In the works for more than four years, the project faced a litany of complaints from neighbors, who argued that the development would cut down on local green space and snarl traffic in the area.
Now, the school plans to satisfy its need for more parking with new spaces on the main campus, according to Monday’s announcement.
Meanwhile, Harvard-Westlake’s newly purchased property will be home to a community athletics center, which will be available both to student athletes and members of “the Studio City community.”
Promising to communicate with area residents “throughout the design process,” the school says it plans to “preserve as much open space as possible” on the property, which juts up against the newly opened Zev Yaroslavsky LA River Greenway Trail.
The school’s plans for the athletics center haven’t been fully revealed just yet, but “portions” would be available to the public, and school president Rick Commons said Monday that the 16-acre property would be developed in line with “neighborhood goals” for the site. “Everybody benefits,” Commons said.
In a statement, Los Angeles City Councilmember Paul Krekorian promised to “advocate for Weddington to remain an environmental, aesthetic, and recreational asset to the community.”
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