City Planning Commission signs off on EIR for Gehry-designed offices at 12575 Beatrice Street in Playa Vista

After a 2020 legal setback, a Beverly Hills-based developer is one step closer to getting plans back on track for a Frank Gehry-designed office building in Playa Vista.

On March 13, the Los Angeles City Planning Commission voted to adopt the findings of a supplemental environmental impact report circulated for the New Beatrice West project, named for its location at 12575 W. Beatrice Street. In 2017, developer NSB Associates secured city authorization for the construction of an eight-story, approximately 196,000-square-foot office building with 3,400 square feet of commercial space on the property. An existing office building, home to Gehry Partners LLP, would be retained.

Gehry's design for the building had called for a U-shaped structure with upper level setbacks to create terrace decks. The building would rise approximately 135 feet in height.

However, the entitlement process for the project brought NBS into conflict with Karney Management, a neighboring property owner, which repeatedly appealed the project in a bid to force the project to undergo further environmental review. Karney eventually sued the City of Los Angeles to seek to block the project, and a Los Angeles Superior Court Judge ruled in January 2020 that the mitigated negative declaration conducted for the project had not sufficiently considered impacts to aesthetics, noise, and traffic congestion. As a result, the Planning Department was forced to redo the environmental review process, although project entitlements were not overturned by the decision.

Construction of the New Beatrice West development would occur over approximately 18 months, according to the environmental report. An exact start date for the project is unclear.

The Beatrice West project is the second collaboration between NSB Associates and Gehry, following the construction of a smaller office complex in El Segundo in 2018.

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• Playa Vista (Urbanize LA)