It's official: the former Westside Pavilion Macy's department store will be revived as an office campus.
Los Angeles-based developer GPI Companies has started work on a $180-million renovation of the three-story structure at Pico Boulevard and Overland Avenue, which has been empty since Macy's shuttered the store in 2017. The finished product will encompass 230,000 square feet of leasable space.
The project, which is called the West End, is being designed by HLW International. Renderings show floor-to-ceiling glass windows wrapping the building's exterior, with a three-level courtyard providing natural light within.
The former department store - with 77,000-square-foot floor plates - makes for an easy conversion to office space, reports the Los Angeles Times.
“We expect that the design will enhance productivity and create an authentic and welcoming environment that is in such high demand by today’s leading creative and financial companies,” said Sejal Sonani, Design Principal at HLW in a news release. “Authenticity and the tenant experience are at the very core of our design for West End. By bringing in sunlight, creating flexible work environments, and incorporating indoor and outdoor spaces, we are creating the next generation of workplace in West LA.”
The West End, scheduled for delivery in early 2021, is already guaranteed to have a significant next-door neighbor. Hudson Pacific Properties and Macerich, which are redeveloping the remainder of the former Westside Pavilion as an office campus known as One Westside, announced in January that Google signed a 584,000-square-foot lease for the entire property.
“Our plans for West End completely transform this former department store into the Westside’s premier modern office campus,” said GPI managing partner Drew Planting. “This submarket is rapidly becoming a compelling new office hub in the City anchored by Google’s new 584,000 office complex adjacent to West End.”
GPI purchased the former Macy's as well as an adjacent 1,500-car parking structure in February 2017. The company has several other large developments on the horizon in Los Angeles, including the 25-acre NoHo West complex in the San Fernando Valley and a proposed apartment tower that would rise at the current site of Amoeba Music.
