Landmark building at Hollywood & Western to become affordable housing

A landmark office building at one of Hollywood's busiest intersections is poised for rebirth as a mixed-use structure featuring affordable housing.

The Hollywood Western Building, which opened in 1928 at the southwest corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Western Avenue, is being converted into affordable housing, confirms Samir Srivastava of ABS Properties, Inc., which owns the Art Deco structure.  Plans call for converting the 48,000 square feet of office space on the upper floors of the four-story edifice into 79 apartments income-restricted apartments while retaining approximately 10,000 square feet of existing street-level retail space.

Pending the issuance of building permits, construction is expected to begin in either July or August.

Alternatively known as the Mayer Building after of one of its developers, Metro-Goldwyn Mayer co-founder Louis Mayer, the Hollywood Western Building faces its namesake streets with an exterior of stucco, stone, and granite, inlaid with busts of Greco-Roman gods.  S. Charles Lee, the architect behind local landmarks such as Downtown's Tower Theatre, designed the building, which housed the Central Casting Bureau for three decades, and more recently field offices for several government officials.  The property is both a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

ABS is working with consultants and the advocacy organization Hollywood Heritage to preserve the Hollywood Western Building's historic features, says Srivastava.

Within the past decade, the property has found itself hemmed in by new developments seeking to locate near the Hollywood/Western subway station, as well as Thai Town.  Atlanta-based developer Wood Partners completed a mixed-use apartment building on a neighboring property in 2017, and is now building a similar housing complex a few blocks west.

ABS, which acquired the Mayer Building in 2015, is also planning new housing on an adjoining site.  The company hopes to break ground next year on a project located just south on Western Avenue, which calls for the construction of a seven-story building featuring 95 apartments and ground-floor commercial space.

• Hollywood (Urbanize LA)