Los Angeles has officially signed off on a two-tower mega project above the Westlake/MacArthur Park subway station, setting the stage for one of the biggest transformations the neighborhood has seen in decades. If it goes up as planned, the complex will stack hundreds of homes, a sizable hotel, office space, shops, and a transit hub over a new public plaza that wraps around the busy station.
What the City Approved
The green light covers "Centro Westlake," a joint development between Metro and the Walter J. Company that would use nearly 150,000 square feet of Metro-owned land on the block bounded by Wilshire, Alvarado, Westlake, and 7th. The city summary lays out 668 studio, one- and two-bedroom homes, with 234 of those reserved as income-restricted units, a roughly 300-room hotel, about 105,000 square feet of offices, 10,000 square feet of medical offices, 56,708 square feet of retail, and parking for 968 vehicles. City materials describe the towers as rising in the roughly 450- to 600-foot range and stepping down to a large, activated plaza set above the station, according to Urbanize LA.
Design and Scale From SOM
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill is leading the design. On its project page, SOM lists the site at roughly 3.42 acres, with a 570-foot landmark tower, 668 residential units, a 300-key hotel, and a total of about 1.38 million square feet of mixed uses. Renderings highlight a terraced, tree-lined plaza that links the towers to MacArthur Park and to a new mobility hub at street level. Some of those design figures differ from the city staff summary, suggesting the plans evolved over the course of review.
Site, Public Space, and Local Business Commitments
The developer's own Centro Westlake materials put a big spotlight on the central open space, framing it as a plaza programmed for vendors, community events, and a mobility hub. Those documents say 20 percent of the retail space will be reserved for Westlake-based businesses. Project fact sheets and Project Advisory Task Force meeting notes describe broad community outreach, along with commitments on local hiring and vendor opportunities. The public materials sketch out how the plaza and lower-rise retail pieces are meant to energize the station area and carve out room for neighborhood entrepreneurs, per Centro Westlake.
Affordable Housing and Past Controversy
The current plan's 234 income-restricted apartments within the 668-unit total are a key response to earlier criticism about affordability. Metro previously turned down a 907-unit proposal from the same developer in 2020 after opponents argued that the earlier version did not include enough affordable housing, as reported by The Real Deal. Local business outlets have tracked the evolution of the plan and the developer's filings in detail, including coverage from the Los Angeles Business Journal.
Next Steps and Timeline
The city's approval letter is a major step, but it is not the end of the road. The project still has to clear final entitlements, environmental review, and Metro board approvals before any shovels hit the ground. Developers have previously told local outlets they hope to move forward once entitlements are in place, but any actual start date will hinge on those remaining approvals and on the outcome of possible appeals, according to Urbanize LA. Metro and the development team will also need to nail down detailed construction staging plans to keep transit operations running during the build.
What It Means for Westlake
Reactions around Westlake are split. Supporters see Centro Westlake as a rare shot of large-scale investment that could bring jobs, new public space, and safer access to the station. Critics worry that such a dramatic build-out could accelerate displacement and push rents higher if protections and benefits do not keep pace. In response, the developers point to workforce training tied to the hotel, vendor stalls in the plaza, and retail set-asides for neighborhood businesses as ways the project might share its upside locally. The project team and Metro say they will keep holding Project Advisory Task Force meetings and community briefings as city and federal reviews move forward, according to materials on the Centro Westlake site.
