A proposal which calls for razing a 1920s courtyard apartment complex in Hollywood and replacing it with a mid-rise hotel has cleared another hurdle.

Since 2016, property owner and applicant Fairborz Moshfegh of Whitley Apartments, LLC has planned to raze 40 rent-stabilized apartments just north of the Walk of Fame at 1719 N. Whitley Avenue to clear the way for the construction of a new 10-story building featuring a 156-room hotel with a small gift shop and a three-level, 122-car garage.

View from sidewalkDaryoush Safai

Architect Daryoush Safai is designing the building, which would stand approximately 132 feet in height and include a rooftop deck.

If the project seems familiar - it is not the first time it has wound its way through the city approval process. The Central Los Angeles Area Planning Commission previously voted to approve the hotel in 2019 against the objections of its tenants and activists who have supported them. That decision was challenged in court, resulting in a decision which required the City of Los Angeles to rescind the project's entitlements, concluding that the findings used in the hotel's approval had failed to consider how it would relate to the city's housing element.

1719 Whitley AvenueGoogle Maps

The findings for the project have since been updated to address the city's housing element, and new entitlements have been granted for the hotel. Those updated approvals also make the project subject to AB 1218, which requires no net loss of housing even when a new development will not include housing. That conditions helped the project gain the support of 13th District Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez, who represents the Hollywood area.

The project once again found itself faced with an appeal from United Neighborhoods for Los Angeles, its opponent in the earlier lawsuit. The Council denied the appeal, affirming earlier votes by its Planning and Land Use Management Committee and the Central Los Angeles Area Planning Commission.

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