Building gets initial OK

CITY HALL — A 26,000-square-foot mixed-use medical office building proposed for the city’s San Fernando corridor received initial city approval Tuesday.

At a joint meeting of the City Council and Redevelopment Agency, the Broadway development, a four-story building slated for 606 and 610 W. Broadway, was approved on a 4-0 vote with Mayor Frank Quintero absent.

Two structures on the lots would be demolished to make way for the development, which would house 1,600 square feet of ground floor retail space, and 25,000 square feet of general and medical office space, according to a city report. The development would also include the required 99 parking spaces in two levels each of subterranean and above-ground parking.

“It will improve the look of that part of Broadway,” said Councilman John Drayman. “And we very desperately need that.”

The project’s developer has not yet been made public, officials said.

The council also approved the initial environmental review, which found that the project’s construction could have potentially significant impacts on air quality, noise, wastewater treatment capacity and the release of hazardous materials, but that the effects could be reduced to less than significant levels.

As a part of the design approval, the council granted a variance allowing some of the development’s required landscaping to include a courtyard on the building’s third floor, which architect Hamlet Zohrabians said would give a “light and visual excitement.”

City code requires 10% of a lot’s area be landscaped on the ground floor of the building. “Very often, when projects come to the agency, we see landscaping that sort of defeats the purpose,” Drayman said.

“This is very useful and attractive to take that landscaping and give to the residents and the tenants in this complex.”

Council members also lauded the glass and brushed aluminum facade. “I like the building very much. I like the materials, the glass, the aluminum,” said Councilwoman Laura Friedman.

“It’s a very clean look. With a building of this size, it helps to minimize its visual impact.”