An environmental report published by the Los Angeles Department of City Planning has shed new light on Harridge Development Group's plan for a hotel-and-residential complex behind Koreatown's Wilshire Galleria.
The proposed development calls for the adaptive reuse of the six-story Galleria Building into a 160-room hotel. Harridge intends to add a small structure featuring guest rooms atop the building's roof, as well as further alterations for a pool and amenity deck.
Built in the late 1930s as an I. Magnin & Co department store, the Galleria Building has been extensively modified in subsequent decades to serve in its current role as a shopping mall. However, much of the original marble and granite exterior remains intact.
Harridge's project also includes the abutting parking lot at 7th Street and New Hampshire Avenue, which would be developed into a 35-story tower and an accompanying seven-story structure. The seven-story building would feature 190 condominium units above nearly 2,300 square feet of ground-floor retail space, while the adjacent high-rise would include 355 condominiums and an additional 2,800 square feet of commercial floor area.
Plans call for a variety of studio and one-bedroom floor plans in the mid-rise building, as well as one- and two-bedroom units in the tower. Both would offer amenities such as bicycle parking, courtyards and roof decks. The larger building would feature a 720-car garage for both residents and hotel guests in two below-grade levels and eight above-grade levels.
The project is being designed by the Archeon Group, an architecture and planning firm headquartered in Koreatown. Their renderings portray a 395-foot glass and metal tower, building up from the parking podium to a slanted roofline. The second ground-up component is shown as a contemporary mid-rise building, similar to other recent addtions to Koreatown.
If approved, construction of the 698 New Hampshire Project would occur over approximately 31 months, starting as early as mid-2017 and opening by 2020.
