An environmental study published by the City of Los Angeles sheds new light on a proposed mixed-use office complex in the Hollywood Media District.

The proposed project, which was submitted to the Planning Department in February 2020 by The Cooper family and Plus Development, is slated for the north side of Romaine Street between Seward Street and Hudson Avenue.  Plans call for razing two existing commercial buildings and parking areas to make way for a new 10-story edifice featuring approximately 136,200 square feet of offices and 14,400 square feet of commercial space - including a rooftop restaurant.  Parking for 310 vehicles would be located within three above-ground levels and four-level subterranean garage.

Alternatively, the Cooper family and Plus could retain a small 2,500-square-foot restaurant building along Seward Street, which would result in a slight decrease in the amount of office space built.

Hawkins\Brown Architects is designing 1000 N. Seward Street, which is among the London-based firm’s first projects in the United States.  The building, which would rise to a maximum height of 155 feet above street level, would use offset masses to create terrace decks at five different levels.  A series of metal fins would wrap the exterior of the building.

The Cooper family has requested a suite of entitlements that includes a general plan amendment, a zone change, and a conditional use permit.  Pending approvals by the City of Los Angeles - which is anticipated in 2021 - construction of 1000 Seward is expected to be completed in 2025.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic has dealt a blow to the office market nationwide, data from VTS Office Demand Index indicates less pronounced effects in Los Angeles - an anomaly which has been attributed to demand from technology and media firms.

Hollywood is one of the regional submarkets in which offices have benefitted from demand from companies such as Netflix, which has grown its footprint in the neighborhood to more than 1 million square feet since 2016.

The bulk of the Los Gatos-based streaming provider's leased space is in properties owned by Hudson Pacific Properties, which recently completed construction of a new office building across Seward Street at Sunset Las Palmas Studios.

The Cooper family and Hawkins\Brown are also working on a second office development elsewhere in Hollywood - an eight-story, 117,000-square-foot building planned on Vine Street.