Harvard-Westlake Buys Land for Parking

The site of Weddington Golf & Tennis in Studio City is poised to become the new home of Harvard-Westlake School’s controversial athletic center and parking garage, after the private school entered an agreement on Monday to purchase the property from the Weddington family. “Harvard-Westlake’s purchase of the Weddington property allows the school to fulfill its own mission in a manner that is consistent with the neighborhood’s goals for the property,” Rick Commons, president of Harvard-Westlake, said in a statement. “Everybody benefits.” Harvard-Westlake’s previous plans to put a three-story parking garage across the street from its location at 3700 Coldwater Canyon Ave. had incited tensions between the school and area residents, who raised concerns about traffic congestion and the impact on the local environment. Some came together to form an advocacy group, Save Coldwater Canyon!, which circulated petitions that garnered more than 3,800 signatures. The Weddington property has been up for development on other occasions. The Weddington family submitted a proposal to build a 200-unit senior living condominium there in early 2015, but it met with opposition by residents and district Councilman Paul Krekorian. In this case, however, the councilman was supportive of developing the site – so long as it continued to “remain an environmental, aesthetic and recreational asset to the community,” Krekorian said in a statement.