Hollywood Office Tower ‘The Star’ On Sunset Unveils $1B Makeover Plan

Winston Cho
·3 min read
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A proposed $1 billion high-rise on Sunset Boulevard in the heart of Hollywood called the Star is getting a major makeover.

The real estate development firm handling the project has submitted revisions for the 22-story office tower that will now be punctuated by a spiraling design offering 360-degree views of downtown Los Angeles, the Hollywood sign and the Pacific Ocean with luscious garden terraces on each floor that rise from the street-level entrance to a rooftop restaurant.

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The plans were devised by Norman Foster of Foster + Partners, a London-based architecture firm known for iconic buildings and structures around the world such as the Gherkin skyscraper in London, the JP Morgan Chase Headquarters Tower in New York, Apple Park, Hong Kong International Airport and the Millau Viaduct in France. It’s expected to attract suitors across entertainment and tech, possibly as a potential headquarters.

Foster said the office campus, which is situated on a on a two-acre lot at 6061 W. Sunset Boulevard, is a “true reflection of the workplace of the future, nurturing community, well-being and collaboration” meant to “encourage and enliven the city’s incredible creative industries.” The location for the building sits across the street from the Old Warner Brothers Studios, now known as the Sunset Bronson Studios, and its 14-story office tower, which currently hosts Netflix. The former Television Center, which is undergoing a $600 million redevelopment and will be rebranded as Echelon Television Center, is also roughly a mile away.

“We have worked with leaders in the creative and tech industries to redefine The Star into a project that both fits perfectly into Hollywood’s urban fabric and captures the evolving workplace,” said The Star LLC chief executive Maggie Miracle. “The office space seamlessly moves from indoor to outdoor settings with extraordinary collaborative areas and tasteful settings that allow for contemplation and innovation.”

The announcement of the project comes at an uncertain time for the office market in Hollywood. As content spending levels surged, demand for office space boomed amid a flurry of investments by private equity and real estate firms in soundstages. With studios signaling that they intend to spend less on content, soundstages are now finding themselves increasingly vacant. Investors last year spent roughly $2.5 billion on offices across Los Angeles, down more than 50 percent from 2022 and 63 percent from 2019, according to data from real estate advisory firm Newmark.

Developers led by The Star, an LA-based women and minority-owned real estate development firm, are betting on an urban design encouraging natural light and ventilation that incorporates vast outdoor areas with generous landscaping, floor-to-ceiling windows offering sweeping views of the region and an enhanced pedestrian experience along the entrance, which is walking distance from a Metro station and the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In a post-COVID world, access to fresh air and an outdoor space has been an essential consideration, especially for those in the entertainment and tech industries, said a company spokesperson, who declined to comment on financing for the development.

The campus, which sits next to less ritzy building hosting an events company and the Hollywood Palms Inn & Suites motel, will also feature a theater, gallery, rooftop restaurant and an outdoor event space intended to become a new destination. The development will break ground in 2026, with initial occupancy slated for 2029.

The Star will become a Hollywood “landmark” representative of a “new age of office space,” envisions Patrick Campbell, an architect at Foster + Partners.

Prior designs for the building, a glass-skinned office tower with a cable rail that would have shuttled visitors to a terrarium-like rooftop enclosure, from MAD Architects were scrapped in part out of consideration to homeowners and building occupants in the hills.

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