Sunset Millennium Back on Track
The Sunset Millennium—a retail, hotel and residential project planned at the corner of Sunset and La Cienega boulevards in West Hollywood, Calif.—appears to be heading toward construction after the city approved a less-intensive plan on April 13. The new design offers less retail and hotel space than the original plan, approved in 1999.
The project will take up two city blocks on the south side of Sunset. Plans are to build two hotels, a W and a Marriott, totaling about 300 rooms next to the existing Petersen Building. Office space was in the original plan. At Sunset between La Cienega and Alta Loma Drive, a condominium complex containing 190 for-sale units was approved over the initial plan of a 371-unit hotel tower. Both parcels will feature about 40,000 square feet of retail space along with street and subterranean parking. While no retail leases have been signed, the developers hope to attract tenants in line with those at nearby Sunset Plaza and other popular centers, said Brian Lewis, a spokesperson for Sunset Millennium Associates.
The project was redesigned to address traffic concerns and shifts in economic trends, Lewis said. One of the key drivers of the new plan is the addition of about 400 surplus parking spaces, which will be used for Sunset Strip businesses and the general public.
Apollo Real Estate Advisors and Wolff Urban Management are co-developing the project, which is expected to take about two years to build. Construction should get underway later this year, said a spokesperson for the developers.
“This promises to be a creative and unique development that will add to the energy of the Sunset Strip,” said developer Lew Wolff, who is also undertaking the development of a massive entertainment, retail and residential development in downtown Los Angeles near the Staples Center. —Robert McAllister
