Two Signs of Approval Process Failure Finally to Proceed in Los Angeles

A half-completed retail complex in the middle of Los Angeles has a new lease on life after a court decision this week, reports Steven Sharp. The so-called "Target husk," located at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Western Avenue has been lying dormant, a conspicuous symbol of the contentious development battles in the city, after being forced to halt construction in 2014.

Steven Sharp explains the latest development in the saga:

On December 6, the California Supreme Court denied a petition for review submitted by Citizens Coalition Los Angeles and the La Mirada Neighborhood Association, which have long sought to prevent the completion of the 200,000-square-foot superstore at Sunset Boulevard and Western Avenue.  The ruling in favor of the City of Los Angeles and Target will allow construction of the nearly 200,000-square-foot retail complex to resume.

This news comes just a few days after another symbol of development controversies also shook loose of years of stagnation. Steven Sharp reported in a separate article from earlier this month that the Los Angeles City Council reapproved the 22-story Sunset Gordon tower in Hollywood. Here's how Sharp summarizes that debacle:

The 22-story building, named for its location at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Gordon Street, was completed by CIM Group in 2015.  But while it provides 299 apartments in a tight rental market - in addition to 38,000 square feet of office space, 7,700 square feet of ground-floor retail, and structured parking for 428 vehicles - the building has been vacant since 2015, after California's 2nd District Court of Appeal invalidated the project's approvals, finding that CIM Group had not adhered to a condition that a 1920s building that previously housed an Old Spaghetti Factory restaurant be preserved.  The developer had instead demolished the one-story structure and recreated it after concluding that the historic structure was too badly damaged to save.