Six-Story Westwood Project Heading Back To Planning Commission

Plans for a six-story, 31-unit multifamily project to rise at 1300 Westwood Boulevard are heading back in front of the Los Angeles Planning Commission this week following an appeal of the project’s September transit-oriented communities program approvals. The appellant, an abutting property owner named George Merkert, is represented by Laura Lake, a board member with Fix the City, a group that has litigated against the city’s Transit-Oriented Communities Incentive Program in the past.

The project applicant and owner, 1300 Westwood Development LLC, received approvals in September for Tier-4 incentives under the city’s TOC program, including a 72% density increase from 18 units to 31, and a 30-foot increase in building height from 45 feet to 75. The project site is within 750 feet of the upcoming Metro Purple Line Rail and the existing Metro Rapid 720 bus line, and the project itself is reserving four of its units for extremely low incomes, qualifying it for the Tier-4 designation.

The appeal against the planning department’s September decision argues several points, including that Measure JJJ, the 2016 ballot measure that engendered the city’s TOC program, does not allow some of the incentives given through it to 1300 Westwood. The planning staff’s recommendation is for the department to deny the appeal, saying in its responses that the city’s TOC program allows for incentives like the height and density bonuses.

At the planning commission meeting on Thursday, 1300 Westwood will precede a public hearing on another appeal filed against TOC approvals. The appeal against approvals for Carmel Partners’ 153-unit East Hollywood project is on this week’s docket as well, with appellants also arguing those approvals are in violation of Measure JJJ.

Plans for 1300 Westwood call for five studios, 21 one-bedrooms, and five two-bedrooms, in addition to 12 vehicle parking spaces in a subterranean garage and 37 bicycle parking spaces. The new construction will follow demolition of the project site’s existing surface parking lot.

The project applicant and owner is registered to Mehdi Mossazadeh, with the LLC having purchased the project site for $3 million, according to a transaction recorded with the county in 2018. The project representative is listed as Andy Simhaee of Simha Engineering, while the architect is Van Nuys-based architect Maly Architects.