City Council Approves Environmental Study for Playa Vista Development

City lawmakers last week moved a Frank Gehry-designed office development in Playa Vista closer to construction by certifying additional environmental analysis and rejecting a pending appeal, as reported by Urbanize Los Angeles.

Called New Beatrice West, the NSB Associates project at 12575 W. Beatrice St. won initial approval in 2017 for an eight-story, 196,000-square-foot office building with 3,400 square feet of commercial space. Plans also call for incorporating the existing home of Gehry Partners, LLP.

Neighborhood opposition stalled the effort in 2020, when Karney Management appealed the approvals and later sued the city. A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge found the prior mitigated negative declaration lacked sufficient review of aesthetics, noise, and traffic, prompting the Planning Department to redo the environmental study. The court did not overturn the project entitlements.

On July 31, the City Council certified a supplemental environmental document addressing those issues and denied an appeal from the Supporters Alliance for Environmental Responsibility, a group affiliated with the Laborers International Union of North America Local 270, which had raised air quality and transportation concerns.

Construction is expected to take roughly 18 months once it begins; a start date has not been announced.

New Beatrice West marks the second collaboration between NSB Associates and Gehry, following a smaller El Segundo office complex completed in 2018.