A vote taken last week by the Los Angeles City Council once again clears the development of a Frank Gehry-designed office building in Playa Vista.

The New Beatrice West project from NSB Associates, named for its location at 12575 W. Beatrice Street, was initially approved in 2017 as an eight-story, 196,000-square-foot office building with 3,400 square feet of commercial space. In addition to ground-up construction designed by Gehry, the project was also to incorporate the existing home of Gehry's firm - Gehry Partners, LLP.

View from Jandy Pl. looking southGehry Partners LLP

That plan was dealt a setback in 2020 by neighboring property owner Karney Management, which repeatedly appealed the project in a bid to force the project to undergo further environmental review, and later sued the City of Los Angeles to block the project. A Los Angeles Superior Court Judge ruled that the mitigated negative declaration conducted for the prior to its 2017 approval 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.

The Council's vote on July 31 certifies a supplemental environmental study for the project, addressing the issues flagged by the earlier lawsuit. Supporters Alliance for Environmental Responsibility, an affiliate of an affiliate of Laborers International Union of North America Local 270, had also appealed an earlier decision by the Los Angeles City Planning Commission to certify the environmental study, arguing that it fails to address issues such as air quality and transportation. The Council denied the appeal.

12575 Beatrice StreetApple Maps

Construction of the New Beatrice West development would occur over approximately 18 months, although 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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