Sunset Boulevard's recent building boom continues its eastward march, as a long-delayed apartment project gets underway near the Hollywood freeway. Cornerstone Holdings, a Colorado-based limited liability corporation, recently broke ground on the long-proposed Metropolitan West Apartments. Located at 5837 Sunset Boulevard, plans call for a six-story building containing 79 studio, one and two bedroom apartments above a two-and-a-half level parking garage. LADCP documents indicate that residential amenities will include a fitness center, private internet cafe, rooftop terrace, landscaped courtyard and a swimming pool.
Designed by Van Tilburg, Banyard & Soderbergh Architects, the low-rise development is considered an expansion of the Metropolitan Hollywood, an adjacent office-residential complex also owned by Cornerstone Holdings. First opened as a hotel in 1984, the Metropolitan Hollywood was reportedly "terrorized," by a who's who of West Coast rappers and record executives in the early 1990s. Almost two decades later, a now-defunct developer converted the 12-story tower and an accompanying u-shaped structure into 52 apartments and 40,000 square feet of creative office space.
Other new commercial developments have also emerged along this freeway-adjacent stretch of Sunset Boulevard. Across the street from the future apartment complex, Los Angeles-based Hudson Pacific Properties intends to break ground later this year on a 400,000 square foot expansion of Sunset Bronson Studios. The $150 million plan is highlighted by an distinctive, 14-story office tower, designed by prolific architectural firm Gensler. One block west, Hudson Pacific Properties plans a second office building on a parking lot next to CIM Group's nearly complete Sunset and Gordon tower.