Ivy Station Development To Be A Gateway For Culver City
Come 2020, Culver City will have a new transit-oriented mixed-use playground.
Ivy Station, a project from a JV of Lowe Enterprises, AECOM and Rockwood Capital, is proceeding on schedule and ready to be completed by the first quarter of 2020, a Lowe official said.
The $350M, 500K SF project will feature a 200-unit apartment, a 148-room hotel, 200K SF of office, 55K SF of retail and restaurant space, underground parking with 1,500 spaces and plenty of open park space.
The mixed-use development highlights the growing Culver City landscape. Once known more as Sony Pictures Studios' headquarters, Culver City is evolving.
More than $1B in development is under construction or entitled that will transform this 5-square-mile area in the Westside of Los Angeles into a live-work-play destination in the coming decades.
Bisnow caught up with Lowe Executive Vice President Tom Wulf to talk about Ivy Station and its importance in Culver City.
Wulf will be one of the speakers at Bisnow's Future of Culver City event Nov. 13.
Bisnow: Tell us a little bit about why your company chose Culver City to develop this project. What makes Culver City an attractive market?
Wulf: Lowe maintains a specific mission — creating innovative and lasting environments and meaningful experiences that connect people and place. With that mission, Lowe has targeted locations and specific properties that are at the forefront of connection and innovation.
In recent years, the city of Culver City has undertaken an effort to attract and encourage well-designed, compatible development and investment. That effort, combined with the investment and opening of the Metro Expo line in 2012, made the Culver City decision all the easier.
Furthermore, the city of Culver City is very accessible both from downtown and the Westside, and maintains significant walkable, pedestrian amenities that are attractive to both office and residential tenants.
With the resurgent office growth in Culver City, we see added demand for both retail offerings and hotel visits. These uses complement the existing retail offerings and corporate travel demand. Overall, what made the city of Culver City attractive 100 years ago, when [it was] founded by Harry Culver, is exactly what makes it attractive today.
Bisnow: Tell us about Ivy Station. With all of the mixed-use developments across Los Angeles, what makes Ivy Station unique? How does this complement the other developments going on in Culver City?
Wulf: Unlike many other mixed-use developments across Los Angeles, Ivy Station includes three unique features:
1. A broader mix of uses, which include office, residential, retail and restaurant and a boutique hotel.
2. Directly adjacent access to the Metro Expo station connecting downtown Los Angeles to the beach.
3. A lower-density development with more public open space with publicly accessible programming.
Ivy Station will also become a multimodal community transportation center, seamlessly integrating the light-rail station with transit connections by bus, bike, vehicle or by foot. These uses will bring together residents, workers, commuters and visitors.
It is rare to have a single mixed-use development that has all of these elements and diversity of users. Ivy Station will inherently complement other developments underway in the city of Culver City transit district.
The property will be the gateway to the city from the transit system, and further enhance the walkability and experience of the city.
Bisnow: What is your vision for Ivy Station? How would you like to see people view the development?
Wulf: Ivy Station is a gateway development for Culver City.
The property has the scale and mix of uses that position it to be a transformative development for the area by attracting additional private investment and development, new businesses of all types and new residents.
Hear more from Wulf and others about the projects shaping Culver City at Bisnow's Future of Culver City event Nov. 13 at the Marina Del Rey Marriott in Marina Del Rey.
