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Assisted living project faces tough Westwood rules

Los Angeles Business Journal, Feb 24, 2003 by Danny King

Assisted living developer Belmont Corp. is caught between competing city interests that could jeopardize its latest planned project in Westwood.

The Houston-based developer, which has three projects underway in the city, is under contract to buy two three-story apartment buildings at 10763 and 10777 Wilshire. Blvd. and could build an 11-story facility on the site.

But the deal is contingent on getting approvals, and the property is in the midst of a Westwood neighborhood that has seen a series of battles over community efforts to halt new high-rise development.

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The site falls within the city's Wilshire-Westwood Scenic Corridor, which set a six-story, 75-foot height limit for new construction. And Westwood community leaders are still smarting from the city's approval of a 23-story luxury condominium complex one block west of the Belmont site.

Yet the proposal could get a sympathetic ear from the city's planning department, which is developing the first zoning code guidelines specifically geared toward senior housing developments.

Those plans could codify a number of exceptions made recently, allowing greater density for senior housing facilities that generally have a higher percentage of common area and lower percentage of drivers relative to other residential developments.

Of the seven largest senior housing developments proposed to the city within the past four years, six were given a parking requirement reduction and three were allowed greater densities.

Mitchell Menzer, president of the city planning commission, did not comment on whether these allowances would be given to Belmont for the Westwood site.

Sandy Brown, president of the Holmby-Westwood Property Owners Association, met with Belmont representatives Jan. 29 and said the developer was planning a 140,000-squarefoot facility that would have 145 units.

Belmont Chief Executive Patricia Will confirmed that the property was under contract and that the 11-story plan was "one of the permutations" considered for the site. She declined to disclose the purchase price of the property.

"For any project on Wilshire, there are issues with respect to height, and we're sympathetic to those issues," said Will, who would not give a time frame on when a final decision on the project would be made.

The city is being particularly sensitive to height issues along Wilshire corridor in Westwood after a bitterly contested exception was granted last summer.

Richard Weintraub, a Malibu-based developer, received approvals for the 23-story condo tower in July. He has since sold the site to a joint venture of Chicago-based Fifield Cos. and L.A.-based California Landmark.

The exception was granted despite strong opposition from some corners of the community, and the flap prompted Councilman Jack Weiss to announce at a community meeting last month that he would attempt to outlaw exceptions to the corridor height limit.

While Will wouldn't comment on whether Belmont would develop the site with a six-story limit, Belmont's smallest development is 120 units, making the company hard-pressed to build within the corridor plan.

How the community reacts to the plan hinges in part on that decision.

"We have nothing against assisted living," said Brown. "But it's not going to fit on Wilshire with what they want to d0."

Weiss could not be reached for comment, but his spokeswoman, Lisa Hansen, said he would side with those who sought to maintain the height limit.

Because building would be between the 15-story Marie Antoinette apartments to the west and the 11-story Wilshire-Selby apartments to the east, the effect of Belmont Village amid a one-mile stretch of predominantly high-rises would be minimal, Will claimed.

"There are seniors in every one of these buildings who need services we provide," she said.

Still, Brown said she wanted to see shade-shadow test results from the proposed project to better assess its impact. "(Belmont) seems to be moving very quickly on this, and we're saying 'whoa," she said.

If built, the development would be part of an aggressive expansion plan for Belmont in Los Angeles County. The company, whose projects cost about $20 million to develop, opened a 115-unit facility in Hollywood in 2001, broke ground on a 129-unit Encino project in September and last month closed escrow on a Rancho Palos Verdes site that will be developed into a 122-unit facility.

Business Services Industry

Assisted living project faces tough Westwood rules

Los Angeles Business Journal, Feb 24, 2003 by Danny King

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