Development Adjacent To D Line Westwood / UCLA Station
By Dolores Quintana
Indivest has had the 29-story The Gayley at Wilshire condominium tower in development since 2010 when it was first approved by the Los Angeles City Council. The proposed building would be located at 10955 Wilshire Boulevard in Westwood.
The development is now being opposed by Metro Los Angeles because it is so close to the Westwood / UCLA D Line station as reported by Urbanize Los Angeles.
Los Angeles City Councilmember Paul Koretz has filed a motion with the City Council regarding the contentious dialogue between the two parties. In the motion, Koretz notes that Metro is requiring that the developer Indivest applies for clearances from Metro before they can begin to pull permits and begin construction on the project. Koretz’s motion states that the developer had already started the process of submitting for the necessary permits in 2018 which was three years prior to Metro breaking ground on the D Line extension’s final section.
Councilmember Koretz said, as quoted by Urbanize Los Angeles, that Metro is of the opinion that Indivest should not be approved for the permits needed to start construction by the city. In an attempt to resolve this issue, Indivest and Metro engaged a third-party consultant to analyze the designs of the station and the tower and their mutual impact. After the analysis was completed, Metro still refused to budge.
The motion states, as quoted by Urbanize Los Angeles, “Now that an additional year of delay has occurred to complete the third-party analysis, Metro now claims that the analysis is insufficient. In addition, Metro has asserted that the developer must sue the City and Metro to resolve the matter; when the developer sought judicial relief against Metro, Metro filed a motion insisting that the City must be brought into the case because the permits Metro has refused to clear our City permits.”
Metro still refuses to agree to allow construction of The Gayley at Wilshire Tower to go forward and Indivest believes, according to Urbanize Los Angeles, that Metro has planned the extension without any consideration for their project’s needs. Indivest has a deadline to start construction in 2023 based on the vesting tract map that expires in July.
