Hollywood Target husk set to open in summer 2020

After years of legal troubles, stalls, and uncertainty, work has official begun on the incomplete Target at Sunset Boulevard and Western Avenue in Hollywood, a Target spokesperson confirms.

The store’s opening is slated for summer 2020.

“It’s reassuring that this project is moving forward,” said Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell, who represents the area. O’Farrell said the new store would “provide a great deal of economic activity to the Hollywood area, employ local residents, and make the neighborhood more walkable and livable.”

Target will occupy 143,000 square feet in the building; an additional 30,000 square feet at the street level will be dedicated to other shops and restaurants.

Pre-construction work was spotted on the site in March, around the time when the city’s department of building and safety department granted Target a permit to resume construction, which had been on hold since 2014.

The battle over the Target heated up in 2012, when the La Mirada Neighborhood Association and its lawyer Robert Silverstein sued the city for building up to 74 feet on a site where building heights were supposed to top out at 35 feet.

Two years later, a judge sided with La Mirada, halting construction on the project and creating the eyesore that sits at the bustling intersection.

In 2016, the Los Angeles City Council sought to remedy the height discrepancy by changing the height limits for developments in a small segment of Hollywood that included the Target project site.

The alteration was supposed to make the building’s height permissible, but the La Mirada group took issue with the move, suing again successfully. But a December Supreme Court decision confirmed that the city’s height changes could stand and work on the Target could restart.