Next year, Mill Creek Residential will be tasked with lease up for Modera Argyle, a new mixed-use residential complex with 276 apartments near Hollywood and Vine. What they won't have to worry about is finding an anchor tenant for the building's ground floor, per an announcement earlier this month from Kennedy Wilson Brokerage.

Rendered view looking southeast from Selma and ArgyleAC Martin

Bristol Farms has inked a more than 23,000 square foot least for a new market at 6220 Selma Avenue - a location which will be the chain's 14th in Southern California.

“Bristol Farms is an incredible brand with a devoted following,” said Lee Shapiro of Kennedy Wilson, who represented the developer in the deal. “This new Hollywood location gives them immediate access to their target customer, who will be living right upstairs at Modera Argyle, as well as in the dense surrounding neighborhood. It’s a big win for Mill Creek, Bristol Farms, and the neighborhood.” 

The new Bristol Farms will sit one block west of Selma's intersection with Vine Street, where Trader Joe's has long had a location.

Aerial view of Beverly Hills in 2017Urbanize LA

It seems that the third time is not the charm for Beverly Hills in the struggle to obtain state certification for its housing element.

A letter from the California Department of Housing and Community Development dated December 15 indicates that Beverly Hills must make additional changes to its Housing Element if it hopes to receive the blessing of regulators. The changes demanded by HCD include updates to the city's inventory of potential housing development sites, as well as clarification as to how the city will comply with fair housing laws and remove constraints on development.

While the city remains out of compliance, property owners can continue to take advantage of the window of opportunity to build taller and denser through the Builder's Remedy. Several applicants have already availed themselves of that ability, with plans for a 19-story building on Linden Avenue, a 12-story building at 346 N. Maple Drive, a 14-story building slated for Hamilton Drive, and a 17-story tower on Rodeo Drive.

The city's woes are compounded by a September legal decision in which a Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled that Beverly Hills had failed to comply with housing element law. A final judgment issued on December 21, which the city is expected to appeal, prohibits Beverly hills from issuing any building permit - save for those relating to adding bedrooms or new housing units - until it adopts a compliant housing element.

Here's what we're reading this week:

Hyperloop One to Shut Down After Failing to Reinvent Transit "The company had captured the public’s imagination since its founding in 2014, a year after Elon Musk released a white paper outlining a vision for hyperloop technology. The concept was a tantalizing promise of a new kind of transportation technology — and an end to traffic....But the nascent industry stumbled, and Hyperloop One never won a contract to build a working hyperloop." (Bloomberg)

Copper thieves unplug 6th Street Bridge lights "The picturesque bridge quickly turned into a destination as much as a connection between L.A.’s Arts District and the Eastside. By night, a menu of colored lights transforms the bridge’s 10 arches into a visual celebration, with the city able to change the lights’ color depending on the occasion." (LA Times)

Eyes on the Street: Boyle Heights Myers/Mission Roundabout Completed, Short Bike Paths Open "Connected to the Sixth Street Viaduct, Boyle Heights' Myers/Mission Roundabout project includes two short bikeway segments now open on Myers Street and Mission Road" (Streetsblog LA)

Aerial view looking northHunter Kerhart Architectural Photography

NBA arenas with best and worst transit scores Crypto.com Arena, located near four different rail lines and numerous bus lines in DTLA, comes in just shy of first place with a score of 99. Intuit Dome, which will be just out of walking distance to both the C and K Lines when it opens next year, does not do so well. (Axios)

Metro Reports Year of Steady Ridership Growth Amid Pandemic Recovery "On the night of Sunday, Dec. 24, aka, Christmas Eve, rides on Metro buses and trains will be entirely free between 9 p.m. and 2 a.m." (Pasadena Now)

Council Votes for Airport Outreach Plan. Process Will Be Led by Sasaki "Currently, the airport is home to both aviation and non-aviation uses within the 227 acre site. 187 acres of the park is open space (including private open space such as the runway) with 40 acres of buildings such as the Museum of Flying, a small group of restaurants and the arts campus." (Santa Monica Next)

Rendering of Airport Park. Image via RCH Studios.

City Council Unanimously Backs Study on Parking Tax for Better, Safer, Transportation "By a 6-0 vote, the City Council voted to study placing a measure on the November 2024 ballot that would tax paid parking to pay for transportation safety and parking modernization improvements. The motion, authored by Councilmembers Gleam Davis, Caroline Torosis and Jesse Zwick directs staff to both create a revenue estimate from such a tax and work with the Coastal Commission to ensure any measure doesn’t violate state laws concerning access to public beaches." (Santa Monica Next)

Outdoor Dining Is Officially a Permanent Fixture of the LA Restaurant Scene "The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously to make the al fresco dining program permanent on Friday, December 15. Under the new ordinance, restaurants serving alcohol must pay $400 for an outdoor alcohol permit; background music, volume from television, and live music are prohibited; patios must close by 10:30 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and no later than 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, among other rules. (Restaurants spanning less than 3,000 square feet or outdoor dining areas spanning less than 1,000 square feet will not have to comply with the new rules.)" (Eater LA)

LA's Morrison Hotel, made famous by Doors album, to become affordable housing "The AIDS Healthcare Foundation acquired the downtown LA hotel property for $11.9 million earlier this month and plans to convert the building into 111 units of low-income housing." (ABC7)

Aerial view looking eastSHoP Architects

Los Angeles surpasses both 300 murders and traffic collision deaths "City hits unwelcome plateaus with weeks remaining in 2023" (Crosstown)

Being doored to death is a cyclist’s nightmare. How can it be prevented? "Developing bike infrastructure in Los Angeles is complicated by logistics and competing interests. Bicyclists say L.A.’s car-centric culture hinders progress and argue that the city favors the comfort of drivers." (LA Times)

PCH Safety Funding "PCH safety corridor awarded $2.5 million...The announcement comes two months after four Pepperdine students were struck and killed while standing on the side of PCH." (LAist)

The Explosion in Costs & Timelines for American Transit Projects Nick Andert chats with Alon Levy and Ethan Elkind about why big transit projects costs so much in the U.S. Check it out above. (YouTube)

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