LAUREL CANYON—Developers have just released official site plans to turn the abandoned, 25-acre area previously known as Laurel Plaza into a multi-use center packed with retail stores, entertainment options, office spaces and residential apartments.
The upcoming project, entitled “NoHo West,” was announced by private investment company Merlone Geier Partners, who have been investing in and creating retail centers throughout the west coast since 1993, according to their website. The announcement comes a little over a year after Merlone Geier Partners and Goldstein Planting Investments officially purchased the space from Macy’s in January 2014.
Until recently, Macy’s had been the only surviving business in the expansive lot, which had been devastated by the 1994 Northridge earthquake, which left 57 people dead and over 5,000 injured. It also resulted in over $20 billion worth of property damaged, making it “the costliest seismic disaster in U.S. history,” according to the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center.
In 2009, the Los Angeles City Council and the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency approved plans proposed by J.H. Snyder Co. to redevelop Laurel Plaza and the neighboring Valley Plaza Center, which had also suffered massive damage due to the 6.7 magnitude disaster. Those plans never came to fruition, and there is currently no connection between the Valley Plaza Center and NoHo West.
NoHo West, located on Laurel Canyon Boulevard at Oxnard Street, will offer a numerous local and national retail stores, a multi-screen movie theater with full-service dining and reserved seating, residential apartments and over two acres of open space, according to the project’s promotional website. The existing Macy’s building will be renovated and turned into approximately 500,000 square feet of office space.
The residential apartments will open to Erwin and Radford Streets and “may include yoga studios/fitness centers, multi-purpose recreation areas, outdoor barbeques, pools/spas, and possibly a shared public dog park.”
There is no set timeline for the project, as developers are still awaiting formal approval from the Department of City Planning the Los Angeles City Council. NoHo West is actively soliciting feedback from local residents, government leaders and retailers in order to ensure that the community is satisfied.
To provide feedback, inquire about leasing an apartment or obtain more information about NoHo West, visit their website at http://nohowest.com/.
