At its meeting next week, the Los Angeles City Planning Commission is scheduled to hear two appeals of a proposed apartment tower at the eastern gateway to the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The proposed Hollywood and Gower development, which would replace a parking lot at the southwest corner of that intersection, calls for the construction of a 22-story building featuring 220 apartments - including 11 affordable units - with 3,270 square feet of ground-floor retail space and 279 parking stalls.

Designed by HKS Architects, the tower would rise 252 feet in height and feature an exterior aluminum exoskeleton underlaid with glass.  Two setbacks planned at the building's ground level would create plaza areas, and artistic displays would mask above-grade parking levels.

The two appellants - the Hollywood Residents Association and the Supporters Alliance for Environmental Responsibility - both allege inadequacies and mistakes in the environmental review conducted for the project.  The first organization is attached to an individual named Sarah Garcia-Rill, while the latter is based out of the same El Monte address as the Southern California District Council of Laborers, the Los Angeles-area affiliate of the Laborers International Union of North America.

A staff response rejects the assertions of both appeals, and recommends that the City Planning Commission uphold the approval of the Hollywood Gower project.

Construction of the tower is expected to occur over a period of 24 to 26 months, according to past environmental review, with a build out period between 2020 and 2023.

The development site, now owned by an entity associated with Metropolitan Life Insurance Group, was previously entitled for a 20-story apartment tower by the Hanover Company.  However, the Houston-based developer's approvals were overturned by a lawsuit in 2012.