Location:  Culver City, California

Client:  Culver City Redevelopment Agency

The City of Culver City and the Culver City Redevelopment Agency selected Johnson Fain for urban design, land planning, mixed use, transit-oriented development and environmental analysis to complete a Specific Plan and CEQA analysis to guide future growth in the Washington/National Transit Area. The Washington/National Transit Area was a low-intensity use district that lies east of downtown Culver City at the new station location for the Exposition Light Rail line connecting downtown Los Angeles with Culver City and the beach.

The Washington/National Transit Area Specific Plan was designed to streamline the development entitlement process by allowing conforming development to be approved at an administrative level. Completion of both the Specific Plan and CEQA analyses would allow development to occur in a planned manner and reduce the burden of detailed environmental review and potential EIRs for specific developments that are consistent with the Specific Plan.

Work on the Culver Junction Specific Plan included research and analysis of the history, existing conditions, current trends and forces, and development opportunities surrounding the anticipated arrival of light rail rapid transit to the neighborhood. Two well-attended public workshops were conducted to engage residents in helping to form the vision for Culver Junction.

As an extension of this process Johnson Fain prepared schematic and conceptual designs for the Culver City Triangle site, directly adjacent to the light rail station at the heart of the Specific Plan area. The 8-acre site encompasses numerous parcels, involves coordination with multiple agencies including the City of Culver City, the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority, and the City of Los Angeles, and is the most complex of the first phase catalytic projects planned for the Exposition Line light rail station at Washington and National Boulevards in Culver City. The mixed-use transit-oriented development would include housing, hotel, retail, office and structured parking.