modern and futuristic architecture design : Essex Property Trust Inc.

Wednesday

Slightly Updated Look For the Earl Carroll-Adjacent Mixed-User

Earlier this year, I erroneously posted outdated designs of a mixed-use development planned for a parking lot near Sunset Boulevard's Earl Carroll Theatre. Developer Essex Property Trust quickly stepped in to set things right, via Curbed LA. Hopefully a new environmental study released by LADCP prevents me from making a similar mistake this time around.

Plans for the two-acre lot at 6250 Sunset Boulevard now call for a low-rise structure containing 200 apartments and 4,700 square feet of ground floor retail space. Residential units would be served by a four-level, 316-car parking garage, with vehicular access provided via Leland Way. Other on-site amenities would include a fitness center, outdoor pool, spa area, sky deck and a residential club house.

The seven-story building, designed by Harley Ellis Devereaux, would utilize exterior materials including fiber cement paneling, anodized aluminum, terra cotta and smooth finish plaster. Updated renderings from the project's initial study deviate marginally from earlier images, swapping out bright orange elements for a less ostentatious shade of earth red-orange.

Additionally, Essex Property Trust plans to retain and preserve the adjacent Earl Carroll Theatre, which has housed Nickelodeon's West Coast operations since the late 1990s. The new residential-retail complex would link to the historic theatre via a ground-level paseo, running from Sunset Boulevard to Leland Way in-between the two buildings.

6250 Sunset sits near the heart of Sunset Boulevard's recent development boom, with Miami-based Crescent Heights currently working on plans for twin 28-story buildings adjacent to the Hollywood Palladium. One block east, Kilroy Realty is in the midst of construction on the $400 million Columbia Square development. Essex's project is anticipated to join the construction craze in the third quarter of 2015, leading into a 22-month build out.

6250 Sunset Initial Study (LADCP)
Hollywood's Earl Carroll Theatre Going Mixed-Use (Building Los Angeles)
Here's the Latest Look For the New Sunset/Vine Mixed-User (Curbed LA)

Saturday

Hollywood's Earl Carroll Theatre Going Mixed-Use

UPDATE: Information supplied by Curbed LA indicates that the above rendering no longer represents the current vision for the project. Plans now call for 200 apartments and 4,700 square feet of retail space.

Sunset Boulevard, already in the midst of a pronounced building boom, is adding yet another large scale project to the pipeline. According to a recent case filing with the Department of City Planning, the parking lot adjacent to the historic Earl Carroll Theatre will be replaced with a new mixed-use complex. Developed by the Palo Alto-based Essex Property Trust, the seven-story Essex Hollywood would create 217 apartment units and a whopping 51,000 square feet of ground floor retail space. With architectural work from San Francisco-based NC2, the project is designed to both incorporate and preserve the adjacent theater complex (for more on the history of the Earl Carroll Theatre, click here). Essex's residential-retail complex would join a host of other developments currently planned or underway near the intersection of Sunset and Vine Street. West LA-based Kilroy Realty recently broke ground on their $380 million redevelopment of the Columbia Square campus, with plans for a second project nearby on Vine Street. Across the street from the Essex Hollywood, developer Crescent Heights has plans for a pair of high-rise towers on the parking lot of the Hollywood Palladium. Despite concerns about fault lines and consistent NIMBY pushback, it appears that developers are still very eager to get in on Hollywood's revival. With so much forward momentum, you have to wonder if the Gower Gulch strip mall is living on borrowed time.