Monday, November 17, 1997
New parking structure opens to alleviate parking woes
WESTWOOD:
Merchants hope to attract customers by adding 360 spacesBy Eleni
Hioureas
Daily Bruin Contributor
With the snip of 25 feet of forest-green ribbon, the project was
complete. The Westwood Village Business Improvement District, a
council formed to develop Westwood economically, celebrated the
grand opening of a new parking structure on Broxton Avenue last
Friday.
This six-level edifice houses an additional 360 parking spaces,
and according to Bill Holland, the city architect with the Bureau
of Engineering, it will also provide a place to charge the
electric-powered cars of the future.
The parking rates in the new structure are $1.25 for every 30
minutes, up to a $5 maximum between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m on weekdays.
After 5 p.m., there is a $2 flat rate. However, customers receive
two hours of free parking with validation from any of the 80
participating businesses. On weekends, there is a $3.50 flat
rate.
The peach-colored structure was designed in an arched colonnade
Spanish-revival style which Project Architect Bill Gregory designed
to "maintain a historical compatibility for existing architectural
style."
The structure was built by Parr Construction Company on land
purchased by the city in 1970. Zev Yaroslavsky, now the 3rd
District County Supervisor, began developing plans for refurbishing
Westwood during the ’70s.
In 1995, 5th District Councilman Mike Feuer started the actual
construction and completion of the long-awaited project with help
from funds contributed by UCLA, property owners, and merchants.
In addition to the parking structure, city renovations, called
Streetscape, have also included wider sidewalks, new street
furniture, bike racks, and more trees. The cost of the project was
$4.5 million.
The new parking is expected to "alleviate the parking crunch,"
according to Daniel Hinerfield, the Deputy for Policy and
Communications under Feuer.
Planners are expecting to draw more people to park and shop in
Westwood by solving the parking problems of the area. It will make
the infamous hunt for a parking spot easier and more convenient for
the customers, especially since the structure is more or less
located in the heart of Westwood.
The extra parking will hopefully prevent people from giving up
after an unsuccessful search for parking, an action that
discourages customers from patronizing the local shops and
restaurants.
The appearance of the structure was taken into account in an
attempt to both please the consumers and beautify Westwood. "This
building will provide much needed central parking to an area that’s
been anemic, but we also focused on how the building looks and made
it pleasant to look at," said Yaroslavsky.
Despite Westwood’s many new Streetscape improvements, Ki Su
Park, the Managing Partner of Gruen Associates, felt that there is
"still a long way to make Westwood Village a vital commercial
center. Our mission is to make Westwood an exciting village."
Park reminisced about how Westwood used to be a movie premiere
center, but now, there is a "dispersed activity in entertainment."
However, he was optimistic that the new parking structure "will
bring back people and especially students from the UCLA
campus."
Bob Walsch, the executive director of the Westwood Community
Alliance was also optimistic about the implications of the
Streetscape restoration of Westwood. "This represents the first
phase of a series of improvements. We hope to restore the village
to the vibrancy it used to have and make it the center that it once
was."