AHF Praises California Court of Appeal for Ruling Halting the Millennium Hollywood Project

The California Court of Appeal throws out the environmental impact report (EIR) for the project and upholds the trial judge’s 2015 invalidation of Millennium Hollywood’s illegal development project

Massive luxury development remains ‘Exhibit A’ of City Council’s behavior and actions greenlighting and fast-tracking projects for well-heeled, campaign friendly property developers

LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) today showered praise on the California Court of Appeal for its ruling Wednesday throwing out the environmental impact report (EIR) for Hollywood Millennium’s planned massive luxury housing development in the heart of Hollywood. The ruling upholds the trial judge’s 2015 invalidation of Millennium Hollywood’s illegal development project.

According to L.A. Curbed, the beleaguered Hollywood Millennium development, which was redubbed ‘Hollywood Center’ in 2018, “…would feature 1,005 apartments and condos… The housing would be spread across two towers—one with 35 stories and the other with 46—and two 11-story structures on lots next to and across from the Capitol Records building at Yucca and Vine streets.”

However, community opposition to the project was and remains fierce, and a coalition of community groups, including neighborhood residents and concerned activists, spearheaded a grassroots ‘Stop the Millennium Hollywood Project’ effort. As part of that effort, the group hired attorney Robert. P. Silverstein to formally oppose the project in court. A press statement released by his law firm Wednesday noted:

“While the court upheld all grounds on which the project was stopped at trial, the decision (Wednesday) focuses mainly on the EIR’s violation of a core issue under the California Environmental Quality Act,” said Silverstein. ‘The EIR was so blurry, it amounted to a fraud on the public,’ Silverstein explained.”

“This ruling is a tremendous and unqualified victory for the community of Hollywood and the people who live and work here every day. Special thanks to attorney Robert Silverstein for his tireless work on this case and appeal, a real Herculean—and successful—effort,” said Michael Weinstein, president of AIDS Healthcare Foundation. “It also is a huge black eye on Los Angeles City Council members who seem to have never met a developer they couldn’t accommodate. This ruling effectively halts, once again, the Hollywood Millennium, Hollywood Center or whatever name the developers might bestow on it, should they now try for a third bite at the apple. The court loss also serves as a stark reminder to the public of the greed and short-sightedness of City Council in approving so many superfluous luxury developments when they cannot even begin to get their hands around what should be their top priority: our homeless and housing affordability crises.”

“Judging from their long track record, L.A. politicians show more urgency to approve pro-gentrification, luxury housing than finding quick, innovative ways to build more affordable housing for our most vulnerable,” added Jacquie Burbank, Western Grassroots Director for both AHF and Housing Is a Human Right. “We suggest that they come up with solutions based on the ‘3 Ps’: protect tenants, preserve communities, and produce more truly affordable housing.”

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and/or services to over 1.2 million individuals in 43 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region and Eastern Europe. To learn more about AHF, please visit our website: www.aidshealth.org, find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/aidshealth and follow us @aidshealthcare.

Contacts

Ged Kenslea, Senior Director, Communications, AHF +1.323.791.5526 cell

gedk@aidshealth.org