That beautiful green grass dotted with trees has offered a lush for those wanting to take a break and step off of busy Santa Monica Boulevard or Melrose Avenue. Now it’s largely wrapped with fencing as the second stage of the redevelopment of West Hollywood Park is underway.
It will take about three years to enjoy the new park. But a “fly through” video produced by the City of West Hollywood provides an engaging look at the Aquatic and Recreation Center, which will be the major feature of the eight-acre park.
The four-level, 75,000-square-foot center will have two rooftop pools, one for swimming competitions and training for them and one a recreational pool. It also will have a court with bleacher seating and scoreboards that will accommodate a variety of sports. It will have five community meeting rooms and one conference room. There will be a classroom for the Tiny Tot program, offices for the city’s Parks and Recreation staff and a public access television studio.
Let your imagination fly and take a 3D look at what you’ll be visiting in three years in the video above.
The video focused on the buildings and not the landscape. Land is what makes a park. Our elected officials can do what they please due to the voter apathy that infects our country and due to the transient nature of the residents of West Hollywood. Still, it’s quite expensive for a population that comes in under 40,000 within less than 2 square miles.
A statistician friend of mine did some figures accounting for the gay aquatic team and the percentage of residentss who use the pool. (not those who would come in from everywhere else i.e. very few West Hollywood residents use the basketball courts) Figure in some use of the new auditorium. That comes up to a few hundred, say low thousands. Divide that by the cost of the center. At best it comes to like $80,000 per individual.
Not to dispute your numbers or whatever the absurd price and price per person who will use it, but did you include The West Hollywood Aquatics local masters swims. (assuming they are still a group, it has been years)? That local training & excersize club always had a lot of people doing a lot of laps I think twice a day. Not that any small number of people perhaps, would affect your cost per person use of such an unbelievable cost for a pool park, especially a small park that already had a large and rather nice pool already. Just… Read more »
I thought the pool structure was supposed to front San Vicente but the entire park is closed off on the Robertson side. In addition as far as I can see it’s another monstrosity crammed into our small park. Hell, Griffith Park is huge yet only contains two large buildings of this size, the Observatory and the Gene Autry Museum and they are not next to one another. Is this a second attempt to challenge which is the most ugly building in West Hollywood? The library building and now the swimming pool building verses the Red Building across the street.
I don’t follow closely. I was totally mistaken. My weho city flyer in the mail didn’t seem to discuss the Sun regular Parade Route. I old, I didn’t read it fully … but not intentional mistake. Ignorance and age (not too old to be able to read, Ive just been here for 24-25 years of the parade.
Not some Propaganda Statement. I’m not that into local politics after years of no change for residents issues, and reelecting same people.
Sorry for anyone I caused distress by a comment.
How much of the “tremendous community involvement and engagement”, to quote Larry, was ever listened to and resulted in substantive changes to the original plans? I don’t see this as much more than a huge building and staircase being built as a massive ego-stroke for the architects, developers, and Councilmembers who can all point to it, when it is finished, and say I built that! As far as I can tell as a close-by resident is that what is going on is not a Phase II but an almost complete reconstruction of most of the park, including much of what… Read more »
@Rose……Pride has NOT moved to Melrose…….Residents asked for that not to happen and the city agreed.
Tell all your misinformed friends.
Easy going fellas, — the park is being built. most of us attended the meetings and made the selections. the process had tremendous community involvement and engagement. Now its in the process of being built and after its built, and open and you can see the results that we can all judge the merits. But- now its time to get excited at what could be. And hope that the vision we all had is a super success. That City of West Hollywood sign, coming up San Vicente, — will be breathtaking! I’m excited!
I agree with Oy Vey.
Really, Teej, better than Central Park? Like David Reid, I don’t think you’ve ever been to Central Park.
And, Rose, the construction on the park is a multi-year task and would impact Pride next year PLUS Pride, as far as I know, is NOT being moved to Melrose. Where did you obtain this erroneous information?
I haven’t been by the park recently, but couldn’t construction been pushed back a week or two so that Pride would not have to be moved to Melrose?
Also, I didn’t understand all the empty space I was ‘flying through’ in the video. “an aquatic center” what was all that mid level open space with windows and nothing else?
Is the pool Olympic sized? Maybe 2024 could use it.
Is this being sold as a new video? It has been on youtube since February 2015.
There needs to be more space on the roof for ‘civilians’. Not all play tennis, nor swim.
The drawing looks like there are tables set up for that. This video, not so much.
Close half the tennis courts and make a picnic area.
A place to take visitors without sneaking in The London for a sky high view.
Awesome! This park is going to be like Central Park it to NYC but better. Can’t wait.
Oy Vey – Actually phase one, the library, parking structure, basketball court, cost $80,000,000. The Phase 2, now underway, has been funded to $96,000,000.
The City certainly will hold the contractors to those numbers.
Teej – have you actually been in Central Park?
What strikes me is two things: what an outscaled oversized monstrosity the City is building for nearly $100 million that serves to only feed the egos of the Councilpersons who championed it – in a City where on a daily average I walk past / around / over 4 to 6 passed out homeless persons. How can we engender civic pride in our City’s facilities when they come at the expense of its citizens? Second – for a $100 million project, that is the crappiest excuse of an animated rendering on par with a first year architecture student’s class project.