An initial study published by the City of Los Angeles has unveiled plans to transform the Hollywood Citizen News Building into event space.
The Art Deco building, located at 1545 N. Wilcox Avenue, was completed in the early 1930s as the headquarters of a newspaper of the same name. Relevant Group, the owner of several neighboring hotels, is planning to use the upper floor of the three-story edifice as 15,788 square feet of flexible event space while activating the ground floor with two restaurants.
Rockefeller Kempel Architects is designing the project, which calls for converting alleys that run along the north, south, and west property lines into landscaped paseos and patio seating for the proposed restaurants.
Construction is anticipated to occur over approximately 12 months.
The building was recently designated as a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument, a distinction granted due to its Art Deco architecture and the influence of the Citizen-News during its 66-year run. The property most recently served as an office building.
Relevant Group acquired the building in 2017 as part of a joint venture with Miramar Capital. Its prior owner, SE Edinger, had paid $14.5 million for the 49,000-square-foot structure just three years earlier.
Relevant Group is currently in the midst of construction on a Thompson Hotel and a Tommie Hotel on two properties that abut the Citizen News Building.
- Hollywood (Urbanize LA)