Introducing Altitude at Howards Hughes Center

With thousands of residential units flooding into the massive Playa Vista campus, it appears that the lucrative multi-family action has started flowing south towards LAX.  Courtesy of TCA Architects, take a first look at Altitude, a low-rise residential development now under construction at Westchester's Howard Hughes Center.  Consisting of two six-story buildings at 5900 and 6040 Center Drive, the project from Equity Residential will offer a combined total of 545 studio, one and two-bedroom apartment units.

The architecture of the residential development is described as a "contemporary interpretation of art deco," and is designed to reflect the aeronautical history of the Howard Hughes Center's namesake.  Sweeping roof lines and canopies mimic the look of airplane wings, while glass towers at important corners emanate a campus-like presence.

Altitude will offer a standard battery of residential amenities, including workout facilities, business centers, entertainment rooms, and communal courtyard and lounge space.  In addition, the buildings will be located in close proximity to a slew of employers, restaurants and stores.  A variety of nearby office buildings host blue chip corporations such as Sony and Univision, while the outdoor Promenade at Howard Hughes Center provides a wide variety of shopping and entertainment options.

A now outdated rendering of the Howard Hughes Center's full build out.

Equity Residential's low-rise project - scheduled for completion in the third quarter of 2016 - will eat up two of the last remaining development sites within Howard Hughes Center's seventy-acre campus  Earlier plans for the mixed-use complex, designed by Gensler, called for additional office and residential structures on currently vacant land near the 405 freeway.  One building in particular, a high-rise tower slated for a parcel at 6055 Center Drive, engendered significant opposition from neighbors in the Westchester Bluffs.

• Howard Hughes Center Expansion Back on Track (Building Los Angeles)

Howard Hughes Center Expansion Back on Track

Image credit: Curbed LA

After years of delays, long awaited plans to add hundreds of residential units to Westchester's Howard Hughes Center are finally moving forward.  Earlier this year, ground was broken on a new apartment complex, located on a formerly vacant lot at 6040 Center Drive.  Rising six stories, the building will contain 218 apartment dwellings above two levels of underground parking.  Permit filings from the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety indicate that a second six-story residential complex is also planned across the street at 5900 Center Drive.  That building would be slightly larger in scale, consisting of 327 apartments in addition to underground parking accommodations.  Both residential structures would lie within walking distance of the Promenade at Howard Hughes Center, a two-level outdoor mall anchored by a luxury theater outpost.

6040 W. Center Drive

Less clear at this point in time are the exact plans for the Howard Hughes Centers' other vacant parcels.  Located at 5901 and 6055 Center Drive, an earlier proposal from developer Equity Office Properties called for an office building and a high-rise condo tower, both designed by Gensler.  That proposal drew the ire of several neighbors in the nearby Westchester Bluffs in 2008, who argued that an expansion of the Howard Hughes Center would increase traffic congestion and obstruct their northern views.

One resident even went so far as to describe her neighborhood as "an oasis surrounded by development."  Hyperbole aside, her comments are still indicative of the rapid changes currently underway in the surrounding environs, which the Los Angeles Times has dubbed "the Lower Westside."  After spending decades as sleepy bedroom communities, neighborhoods such as Westchester and Playa Vista are experiencing dramatically increased employment density (thanks, Silicon Beach!).  With the resumption of development activity on the sprawling Playa Vista campus, an assortment of office, residential and retail projects are slated to open nearby during the next several years.

• 6040 W. Center Drive (LADBS)
• 5900 W. Center Drive (LADBS)
• New View-Blocking Tower Planned for Howard Hughes Center (Curbed LA)