‘Beyond Live/Work/Play’

Capitalizing on the NoHo renaissance, the developers of NoHo West, an ambitious 170 freeway-adjacent project, are racing to meet their fall 2019 completion date. When finished, the 25-acre mixed-use complex at 6150 Laurel Canyon Blvd. will encompass 642 apartments, 300,000 square feet of retail with up to 60 dining and shopping sites, a Trader Joe’s supermarket, movie theater and gym. Developers Merlone Geier Partners, of Lake Forest, and Los Angeles-based GPI Cos. have anchored this project around a building that previously hosted a Macy’s department store. Among the retail tenants already confirmed at NoHo West are Regal Cinemas, 24 Hour Fitness, Urbane Café, The Stand, California Fish Grill and Ulta Beauty. Construction began in 2018 on NoHo West. Designed by downtown L.A.-headquartered Stir Architecture with design work by Orange County rooted Architects Orange, NoHo West will inject some modernity into North Hollywood. “The project was actually split between Architects Orange and Stir,” Architects Orange principal architect R.C. Alley told the Business Journal. “They did the retail part, we did the residential part (just breaking ground now).” “This is beyond live/work/play,” said Patrick Church of brokerage firm JLL, which is leasing the property. “Now the flavor is having a project that has a whole community feeling to it.” Church and his JLL partner Anneke Greco oversee 22 buildings and 6 million square feet of office space from Pasadena to NoHo, and of all of his leasing assignments, Church said that this multi-faceted, multi-genre complex, was the most ambitious they have ever tackled. Last week, Church led the Business Journal on a hard-hat tour of the complex. Inside the former Macy’s structure he pointed out the atrium and skylight in the center of four levels with 12-foot high windows, 19-foot ceilings and “a ton of natural light coming in.” The office component, which rises four full floors – five including a mezzanine level—is designed for five tenants, with one for each floor plus another on the mezzanine, or a single tenant for the entire building. And while the construction phase is still “too early for office leasing,” Church said the 230,000 square feet of office will “more than likely it’s going to be all entertainment.” According to Church, NoHo West will fill a looming void for office space in the entertainment industry. Most of the tenants we’re talking with are entertainment related. With Warner Bros. Entertainment and Walt Disney Co. each close to signing leases for half of the old Warner Music space, Disney taking the remaining floors at The Tower and Netflix, Inc. recently cementing a lease, “Vacancy in Burbank is going to drop significantly Church said. On the left side of the main courtyard, restaurants with covered patio will run the parameter outside of the lower office level, with Regal Theaters on the other side. The office/retail area centerpiece will feature a staircase and a fountain with dancing waters just outside the ground-floor Starbucks, above which is the entrance to the Regal multiplex that will house nine screens and 1,050 seats. Beyond the Regal Theaters facing Oxnard Street, a 24 Hour Fitness gym will anchor the complex. Right now, behind NoHo West’s office and retail structure is an empty lot where Trammell Crow will begin construction on the apartments in September. Preceding the apartment complex and leading into the retail promenade will be 2 acres of green space including a dog-friendly park.