In a unanimous vote, the Los Angeles City Planning Commission has voted to uphold the approval or a proposed multifamily residential development in Westwood, rejecting an appeal from a neighboring property owner which had sought to block its construction.

The project, which was approved by the City of Los Angeles in September 2020, calls for replacing a surface parking lot at 1300 S. Westwood Boulevard with a new seven-story edifice containing 31 studio, one-, and two-bedroom apartments above a 12-car garage.

Maly Architects designed the proposed development, which is depicted in architectural plans as a contemporary podium-type building

Project applicant Mehdi Mossazadeh, who acquired the roughly .15-acre site in 2018 for $3 million through the entity 1300 Westwood Development, LLC, secured entitlements using Transit Oriented Communities incentives to achieve greater height and density than permitted by the property's base zoning.  The developer will be required to set aside four apartments as deed-restricted extremely low-income housing (30 percent or less than the area median income) in exchange for the bonuses.

The use of the Transit Oriented Communities guidelines was the centerpiece of an appeal submitted by project neighbor George Merket, who was represented by Laura Lake of Fix the City, an organization which frequently opposes new developments in the City of Los Angeles.  In addition to arguing that the Planning Department improperly approved development bonuses, the appeal contends that the project violates the Westwood Community Plan due to its lack of ground-floor retail, and argues that a proposed rooftop deck, garage access point off of an adjoining alley, and lack of a loading dock will constitute a nuisance for neighboring residences.

Commissioners, after a prolonged discussion about the merits and origins of the Transit Oriented Communities program, voted to deny the appeal, affirming a staff recommendation to uphold the project's approval.

The proposed apartment complex would rise at the intersection of Westwood and Wellworth Avenue, just one block south of Wilshire Boulevard, where a new subway station is planned as part of the third phase of Metro's Purple Line extension.