Big Century City/Beverly Hills Developments Get Moving

Your eyes do not deceive you: construction cranes have returned to Century City.  10000 Santa Monica Boulevard, a $300 million residential tower by developer Crescent Heights, is about to begin the two-year climb to its eventual 40-story apex.

When completed in 2016, the project will offer 283 luxury apartments along the border between West Los Angeles and Beverly Hills.  Units will range in size from one-to-three-bedrooms, and are being built to condo specifications in the event of an uptick in the local for-sale market.

Designs from New York-based Handel Architects call for the building to have a shimmering glass exterior.  Jagged angles and a sloping roofline will give the tower a unique presence within Century City's otherwise staid, modernist skyline.  With a 483-foot height profile, 10000 Santa Monica is currently the second tallest building under construction in Los Angeles, following the monumental Wilshire Grand hotel and office development.

Westfield Century City

A few blocks west, protective barriers now encircle 1801 Avenue of the Stars, signaling that the end is nigh for Welton Becket's 1963 modernist landmark.  The 13-story edifice, alternatively known as Gateway West, is slated for demolition as part of the highly anticipated expansion of Westfield Century City.  The greatly augmented shopping mall will add over 400,000 square feet of floor area, to be filled by an impressive list of tenants which reportedly includes Nordstroms and Eataly.

An official website indicates that Westfield will also include 20 "upscale residences," in the project, to be located within a new 15-story building.  This plan is a significant reduction from the Australian developer's earlier vision for the site, which featured 262 condominiums within a controversial 39-story tower.  Curiously, an architectural rendering displayed on the project's website does not portray the proposed tower in either form.

9900 Wilshire Boulevard

On the opposite side of Santa Monica Boulevard, all remnants of the former Beverly Hills Robinsons-May have disappeared.  The once luxurious department store has long been slated to give way for a $1.2 billion condominium development, designed by Getty Center-architect Richard Meier.

Although the project has sputtered out multiple times due to lagging market conditions, previous failures have not deterred the Dalian Wanda Group.  Earlier this year, the Chinese conglomerate reportedly paid $420 million for the eight-acre property at 9900 Wilshire Boulevard, with the intention of completing the Meier-designed proposal.  If and when completed, the project will consist of two mid-rise towers, featuring 235 condominiums, 21,000 square feet of retail space and a 876-car parking garage.

Waldorf Astoria - Beverly Hills

At the high-profile intersection of Wilshire and Santa Monica Boulevards, demolition is largely complete in preparation for the new Beverly Hills Waldorf Astoria.  The luxury hotel is being developed by a team of investors lead by Alagem Capital Group, and will contain 170 guest rooms above luxury retail and other ancillary space.

The 12-story structure, designed by Gensler and Pierre-Yves Rochon, is inspired by the Streamline Moderne style.  Exteriors materials will include curved white stone and bronze ornamentation, paying homage to the Golden Age of Los Angeles.

The $200 million project is the Waldorf Astoria brand's first new build on the West Coast.  Opening is scheduled for 2017.

• 10000 Santa Monica Blvd by Handel Architects (Building Los Angeles)
• Westfield's Century City Tower Gets a Big Haircut (Building Los Angeles)
• Beverly Hills' Vacant Robinsons-May Bites the Dust (Building Los Angeles)
• Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills (Official Website)

10000 Santa Monica Blvd by Handel Architects

Northern profile of 10000 Santa Monica Blvd

While Jean Nouvel's erstwhile "Green Blade," proposal packed more architectural star power, I have grown to appreciate Handel Architects' version of 10000 Santa Monica Blvd.  Los Angeles' rooftop helipad ordinance is often blamed for giving the city a "bland," skyline.  However, Handel's design for 10000 Santa Monica shows that it is possible to work around the ordinance to create dynamic shapes.  The tower's slanted rooftop and sharp angles will be unique elements in Century City's modernist skyline.

After perusing the above diagram, I discovered that the building will be slightly taller than reported.  Previous coverage has described 10000 Santa Monica as 460 feet tall, but the diagram shows its architectural peak as 483 feet above grade.

The Evolution of Century City

Century City will never be a walker's paradise, even when it does get its long awaited subway station (hopefully less than 15 years from now).  It's cold and aloof, with buildings that (for the most part) refuse to meet the sidewalk.  Generous accommodations for the automobile are strewn about.  Its retail accommodations are almost exclusively encompassed by the fortress like Westfield Century City mall.

Nonetheless, Century City is on pace for a massive amount of construction activity in the coming five years.  By 2015, five high rise buildings 460 feet or taller should be well underway.  All packed into a neighborhood which encompasses only .275 square miles.

An overhead view of Century City, with development sites outlined in red.

At the corner of Santa Monica Blvd and Avenue of the Stars, Australia based Westfield is working on a 39 story residential tower which will tie into their plans to expand the Century City Mall.

Westfield's Residential Tower on the left.  This outdated rendering show a 49 story tower, not the current 39 story proposal.  Patient zero of the financial crisis still graces the marquee of the SunAmerica Center in this picture.  Image from Westfield Group.

Although construction on the tower itself has yet to begin, some ancillary construction work associated with the project is already underway.  Specifically, a 500 car parking garage at the corner of Constellation and Century Park West.

Construction progress on the new parking garage.

Of course, groundbreaking for residential tower itself is probably more than a year off.  The fairly large office building currently at the corner of Santa Monica and Avenue of the Stars is still occupied.  I suppose Westfield set the completion date as 2018 for a reason.

On the opposite side of Century City, Miami based Crescent Heights' 40 story/460 foot tall proposal at 10000 Santa Monica Blvd seems much more imminent.

10000 Santa Monica  Image from Handel Architects

Crescent Heights brought this project into the site prep stage over the past two months.  Workers have been busy with excavation and installation of utilities to get the site ready for vertical construction.

10000 Santa Monica, as it currently appears.

When completed, this building will directly overlook the LA Country Club (and some other stuff too).  As an aside, I'm puzzled as to how the LA Country Club survives to this day. It take up hundreds of acres of prime real in between Los Angeles' two main commercial boulevards (Wilshire and Santa Monica).  On top of that, it's twice the size of a standard golf course with 36 holes as opposed to 18.  I suppose that there will be some point in the coming decades where a developer makes an offer that the club just can't refuse.  Century City Part II, anyone?

Next up is a project scheduled to break ground in 2014, the Century Plaza Residential Towers.

Image from New Century Plaza

In a vacuum, these just appear to be run of the mill residential skyscrapers, each standing 46 stories and 520 feet tall.  Despite a future subway portal, both towers are deliberately designed to be isolated from the street.  The primary ingress points will be two vehicular driveways on opposite sides of the property.   Basically, these will be two auto-oriented ivory towers.

I suppose the redeeming quality of this proposal is that it creates great symmetry with the Century Plaza office towers and the CAA headquarters across the street.  Rectangular mid-rise buildings front the street, with triangular shaped twin towers rising behind.  A least the view from Google Earth will be nice.

Finally, we have the Century City Center, the only one of these proposals which seeks to create office space.

Can you spot Century City Center?  Hint: it's the only one of these buildings that doesn't exist (yet).  Image from Johnson Fain Architects.

Standing 37 stories and 570 feet tall, this building would practically sit on top of the future Century City Purple Line station (provided that Beverly Hills doesn't mess it up for everyone).  With 700,000 square feet of glassy office space, it's the largest pure office building proposed in LA County at the moment.