Playa Vista

The Los Angeles Planning Commission voted Thursday to approve the final phase of the massive Playa Vista development between the Westchester bluffs and Marina del Rey. In casting his "yes" vote, commission President William Roschen praised Playa Vista as a "smart, sustainable project." The 111-acre second phase -- which Roschen called the project's "centerpiece" -- is intended to complete the vision of Playa Vista as a live-work-play community and will be built between the existing mixed-use residential community to the west, home to more than 6,000 residents, and the office campus to the east.

Construction is underway on the long-awaited city center for Playa Vista that will include its first grocery store -- a Whole Foods Market. About the size of four city blocks, the $260-million shopping and apartment project called Runway is intended to be the commercial and social heart of the planned community that has been under construction for more than a decade on land south of Marina del Rey once controlled by aviation mogul Howard Hughes....

Preachers, wetlands activists, construction workers and retired residents lined up Thursday to air their opinions as city planners held their first public hearing on Playa Vista's next and final phase of development. The comments indicated that although the large Westside project has gained some community support, it still faces fierce opposition from activists and neighbors concerned about traffic, pollution and disappearing open space.

KB Home plans to build more than 100 residences in the final phase of the Playa Vista community near Marina del Rey. KB Home bought land from Brookfield Residential Properties Inc., the new master developer of Playa Vista. Brookfield gained command of more than 50 acres of land near the coast in a transaction this month valued at more than $250 million. "Playa Vista has become one of the crown jewels of Los Angeles' Westside, and we're very pleased to be a part of its next evolution," said Jeffrey Mezger, president and chief executive officer of KB Home.

Maguire Thomas Partners, which had said it would select an investor by the end of January to finance its Playa Vista project, said it is continuing to negotiate with potential investors. The Los Angeles-based developer has been negotiating with several financial groups--including Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and a pool of union pension funds led by Pacific Capital Group--to try to start the stalled multibillion-dollar project south of Marina del Rey.

Office construction may soon begin at a long-fallow site in Playa Vista that was once part of aerospace mogul Howard Hughes' empire and later expected to be the home studio of DreamWorks SKG. Dallas developer Lincoln Property Co. is in final negotiations to purchase 14 acres of raw land from Playa Vista for $100 million, according to real estate sources familiar with the deal.

When Playa Vista's first apartments, condos and town homes opened in 2003, a radio spot pitched the master-planned community as a coastal haven with an urban edge. "If Santa Barbara and Larchmont had a love child," it said, "this would be it." Much of the Mediterranean ambience of Santa Barbara and the bustle of Larchmont had to be imagined, however, what with the dust and noise of ongoing construction, the dearth of amenities and the starter landscaping. Six years later, the development between the Westchester bluffs and Marina del Rey has progressed well beyond childhood into a full-fledged neighborhood boasting more than 6,000 residents, thriving mom-and-pop shops, the Los Angeles Clippers' headquarters and training facility, plans for an elementary school and its own ZIP Code.

San Francisco real estate investment management firm McFarlane Partners said it planned to build $98 million worth of condominiums in Los Angeles County with Irvine home builder Standard Pacific Corp. by 2007. The developers hope to start work in March on the $54-million North Lake Lofts, a six-story building in Pasadena with 106 condos, five live-work units that include office space and 9,200 square feet of shops.

Developers provided the first public tour Thursday of a half-finished freshwater marsh they said would eventually enhance wetlands as part of the huge Playa Vista housing and commercial project near Marina del Rey. But environmentalists who have been fighting the Playa Vista project for years called the 26-acre, $25-million marsh an example of phony ecology that would soon succumb to saltwater intrusion and become a holding area for polluted runoff.

A Superior Court judge refused a plea for an injunction to stop construction on the Playa Vista development site near Marina del Rey. The opponents of the project requested the injunction under the California Unfair Business Practices Act. But Superior Court Judge Haley J. Fromholz ruled Monday that the plaintiffs "failed to show any substantial likelihood of success on the merits." This was the latest in a series of legal challenges to the development.

The parent company of Playa Vista is set to be sold to a Canadian developer that intends to finish building the housing approved for the planned community near Marina del Rey, according to people close to the deal. Brookfield Homes is buying control of Playa Capital Co. and gaining command of more than 50 acres of land near the coast. The transaction, valued at more than $250 million, is set to close at the end of the month, according to the individuals, who wished to remain anonymous because the deal isn't wrapped up. Development at Playa Vista has been going on for more than a decade.

The parent company of Playa Vista is set to be sold to a Canadian developer that intends to finish building the housing approved for the planned community near Marina del Rey, according to people close to the deal. Brookfield Homes is buying Playa Capital Co. and gaining command of more than 50 acres of land near the coast. The transaction, valued at more than $250 million, is set to close at the end of the month, according to the individuals, who wished to remain anonymous because the deal isn't wrapped up. Playa Vista has been under development for more than a decade.

In a Playa Vista aircraft hangar that turned out Army helicopters during the Vietnam War, an actor wearing a multicolored princess gown, tiara and wand waits for a crew of about 25 to finish lunch and resume filming. The building that once was part of Howard Hughes' sprawling Hercules complex, where the famous Spruce Goose was assembled during World War II, now provides a setting for another kind of American innovation - YouTube videos. The Google Inc. division has converted the 41,000-square-foot hangar into a state-of-the-art digital production facility that is believed to be one of the largest in Southern California devoted exclusively to content distributed online.

Renters ruled the roost again in the third quarter as Southern California's office market remained flat even though some employers are expanding again. The bright spot in Los Angeles County continued to be the neighborhoods of Santa Monica, Venice and Playa Vista, where growing technology and entertainment companies are snapping up space, undeterred by rising rents. As one travels east, though, the picture grows more spotty for landlords. "It's like a wave heading out from Santa Monica," broker Josh Wrobel said.

The Los Angeles Jewish Home, a leading provider of senior housing in the L.A. area, has bought 2.5 acres at Playa Vista and plans to establish its first Westside facility, officials said Saturday. Plans call for developing a senior care community that would become the hub for a network of related services. Now in its centennial year, the Jewish Home opened in 1912 in Boyle Heights to give shelter to five residents. For the next few decades, Boyle Heights -- named for Andrew Boyle, an Irish immigrant -- served as the hub of Jewish life in the area.

When Brian Galli moved into his Playa Vista condo almost nine years ago, he knew of only one child in the whole building. It almost was "unheard of," he said, to bring kids into a community so obviously tailored toward young working people and retirees. Like so many of his neighbors, Galli was unmarried, an upwardly mobile professional looking to flip his property sometime soon. He did not anticipate falling in love - with both a woman and Playa Vista. Galli, 39, now has a four-person family of his own. They have moved into a larger single-family home in another part of the development, where, he said, wine soirees with neighbors have given way to children's birthday parties.

The $100-million sale of 14 acres of commercially zoned land at Playa Vista to Lincoln Property Co. closed as expected, clearing the way for new office construction in the planned community south of Marina del Rey. Dallas-based Lincoln and partner ASB Capital Management plan to start construction in about one year on the first phase of more than 820,000 square feet of office buildings. The land in the campus area of Playa Vista was once part of aerospace mogul Howard Hughes' empire.

Playa Vista developers reported Monday that they have recycled almost 90% of the materials from seven buildings that were demolished at the site. More than 15,000 tons of aluminum, asphalt, brass, concrete, copper, lumber and steel was salvaged from the 1940s-era buildings, said a Playa Vista spokesman. The materials were reused for on-site projects or sold, he said. Eleven remaining buildings, including the historic hangar where the "Spruce Goose" airplane was built, will be refurbished.

After decades of silence and neglect, the renovated former office of aviation mogul Howard Hughes in Playa Vista will finally have a new occupant - design and advertising agency 72andSunny. The company has agreed to rent 58,000 square feet in two buildings that were once part of Hughes Aircraft Co. headquarters. The space includes the "Mahogany Row" offices that were home to top executives, including the brilliant but mercurial inventor and airman. Who will get the corner suite that Hughes himself once occupied?

Restaurant chain California Pizza Kitchen Inc. will move its headquarters to Playa Vista after signing a sublease with Fox Interactive Media. CPK officials and staff will relocate this summer from their longtime headquarters on Century Boulevard near Los Angeles International Airport to the top floor of 12181 Bluff Creek Drive, said real estate broker Dave Toomey of Cresa Los Angeles. The pizza chain will occupy 33,000 square feet on the fifth floor, which has a large private balcony with views of Marina del Rey, Toomey said.