News Ticker

Menu

Historic Weddington House in NoHo to be Relocated within 329 Apartment Units Mega Project

By Marty McFly - Monday, April 27, 2015 - No Comments
Image courtesy Wikipedia; Junkyardsparkle
Image courtesy Bing Maps
Just released from the Department of Planning is a hearing notice (see bottom of post) for the construction of 329 apartment units in the heart of North Hollywood. The project also takes place on the site of the historic Weddington House which was the family home of one of the original NoHo founders, Wilson Weddingon. The home is protected as an LA Landmark HCM# 883 that is discussed in more detail below. The apartment project will take place over two distinct properties comprising an "East" and "West" location with the following: 
  1. West Property: 11111 - 11125 Weddington Street and 11104 - 11120 Chandler Blvd
  2. East Property: 11009 - 11061 Weddington Street and 11022 - 11058 Chandler Blvd
The project consists of the following: 
  1. Demolition of 6 existing commercial buildings.
  2. Relocation of historic Weddington House.
  3. 329 Total apartments spread over 2 properties, East and West. 
  4. 591 parking spaces.
  5. Maximum height of 65 feet over 5.38 acres. 
  6. The East property will contain 223 units including 21 live/work units, and 4,316 sqft of ground floor commercial/artcraft uses including the Weddington House. 
  7. The West property will contain 106 units with 11 live/work units.  
Moving onto the historical piece, The Weddington Family was one of the premier founders of the North Hollywood area. In their 128 year history, the Weddington family provided the land or built the first area school (Lankershim), the first jail, the first and then current North Hollywood fire stations, the Southern Pacific train depot, the North Hollywood Post Office, the El Portal Theater, the Bank of Lankershim, the Weddington Brothers General Store (later Rathbun's), and the North Hollywood Library.
Image courtesy Museum San Fernando Valley
The Weddington House which was built in the 1880's originally came from Storm Lake, Iowa (although a commenter at Preserve LA disagrees) by Wilson who decided to move someplace warmer. Its first resting stop was somewhere near a barley field in Toluca. It later moved again to the corner of Weddington and Lankershim in 1904. Then in 1924, its final resting stop was two blocks east at 11025 Weddington Blvd near Vineland Ave. 

JSM Construction of Santa Monica originally purchased the Weddington House and nearby properties for apartment development back in 2006 which alerted Weddington descendant, Guy Weddington McCreary, of an impending demolition and quickly filed an application for landmark status due to being the oldest home in the southeast San Fernando Valley and having historical significance to the early Weddington family which was granted on August 15, 2007 that saved the property from the wrecking ball.

A year later in 2008 as a result of the HCM status, JSM  planned to move the Weddington House to Heritage Square Museum in Highland Park which again upset local preservationists who wanted the property to stay in the SFV as described in an LA Times and Daily News article.

JSM Construction later filed bankruptcy with Prudential Financial taking on the loans. JSM's CEO, Craig Jones, owned many companies under the "JSM" brand and developed many properties in Southern California but later hit financial ruin in 2009 placing this location in disarray ever since. An article at Patch did a good job investigating JSM, the current whereabouts of Craig Jones who seemed to disappear, and the current owners of the vacant land after foreclosure hit.

Today, the project is being proposed by Greystar GP II, LLC (formed in Texas) based in South Carolina with offices throughout the nation and a few worldwide. I am not sure if Greystar owns the properties now which show the owner as Pr Li Jsm Noho Artwalk Sub No 1, 2, 3, & 4 LLC linking back to a Newport Beach office that has acquired the properties since 2006 spending at least $28 million and definitely more as some sale prices are not listed on online property records.

Image courtesy Greystar
The only shining light in this story is that the Weddington House will be saved although I am eager to see the renderings of this project to ensure its integrity is not lost. Guy Weddington McCreary recently passed away on October 12, 2014 at the age of 77 and I am sure would have been relieved to know that the property was going to be re-purposed. Ironically, the Weddington family is trying to develop just the tennis court area of the Weddington Golf and Tennis center in Studio City into a 200 unit condominium project. But keep in mind that the Weddington's donated this land for the sports center. 

The various lots that makeup this project are described below. Historically, this area was a residential, later became industrial, and was demolished sometime in 2007 - 2008 with a return back to residential probably in 2016 as shown in the pictures below from fave site Historicalaerials.com. 

Mostly residential in 1952
By 1972, converted to industrial buildings and warehouses
Up until 2005, the properties still existed and remained industrial with  demolition taken place in 2007 - 2008. 
11021 Weddington Street
11027 Weddington Street
11033 Weddington Street
11057 Weddington Street
11114, 11108, 11052 Chandler Blvd
11114, 11108, 11052 Chandler Blvd
11046 Chandler Blvd
11046 Chandler Blvd
11030 Chandler Blvd
11022 Chandler Blvd
2014 image of  "West" property
2014 image of  "East" property
Image courtesy Bing Maps
East Property
  1. 11022 Chandler Blvd: 24,098 sqft vacant lot owned by "Pr Li Jsm Noho Artwalk Sub No 1 LLC" with an unknown purchase date an price which links back to a company called Alliance Residential in Newport Beach. 
  2. 11030 Chandler Blvd (17,600 sqft vacant lot) and 11046 (35,198 sqft vacant lot) recently purchased by "Pr Li Jsm Noho Artwalk Sub No 2 LLC" (links back to the same company described in #1) from Richard Edward Gulbranson Trust for $13.7 million on April 10, 2007 which I believe includes the property described in #3.
  3. 11052 Chandler Blvd: 3,814 sqft vacant lot, no-address (below 11052 Chandler Blvd, 5,000 sqft vacant lot) which was purchased by the Gulbranson family April 10, 2007 for $4,312,500 
  4. No address (left of 11114 Chandler Blvd):  8,810 sqft vacant lot owned by "Pr Li Jsm Noho Artwalk Sub No 3 LLC" which was purchased from John Zemansky on January 10, 2007 for an unknown amount. 
  5. 11061 Weddington St & 5308 Balkeslee Ave (above 11061 Weddington): 3,000 & 5,764sqft vacant lot, respectively owned by "Pr Li Jsm Noho Artwalk Sub No 2 LLC" which was purchased from The Kate Pantano and Maria Pedicini Family Trust on December 15, 2006 for an unknown price. 
  6. 11057 Weddington St: 8,755 sqft vacant lot owned by "Pr Li Jsm Noho Artwalk Sub No 2 LLC" which was purchased from Mary and James Garlock on January 23, 2002 for $346,503. 
  7. 11045 Weddington St: 17,510 sqft lot with 9,999 sqft building built in 1969 designated for light manufacturing and 11041 Weddington St (8,755 sqft lot with 4,780 sqft building built in 1972 designated for light manufacturing). Currently owned by "Pr Li Jsm Noho Artwalk Sub No 2 LLC" which was purchased from Crow Weddington Partners Ltd. on  December 15, 2006 for an unknown price.
  8. 11033 Weddington St: 8,755 sqft vacant lot currently owned by "Pr Li Jsm Noho Artwalk  LLC" which was purchased from Richard Anderson and Tse Man Chun Marina Trust for an unknown price on February 28, 2007. 
  9. 11027 Weddington St: 8,756 sqft vacant lot currently owned by "Pr Li Jsm Noho Artwalk  Sub 1 LLC" which was purchased from  The Ekins 1990 Family Trust for $2.6 million on April 6, 2007. 
  10. 11025 Weddington St: 8,757 sqft lot with 1,878 sqft single family home with 3 Beds/2 Baths built in 1904 which is known as the Weddington House. According to online property records going back to 1998, this property changed hands twice with the Shirley W Mangin Estate selling to Sean P. Kelly for $91,500 on April 1, 1998 and then to Pr Li Jsm Noho Artwalk Sub 1 LLC on December 18, 2006 for an unknown amount. 
  11. 11021 Weddington St: 17,516 sqft vacant lot currently owned by "Pr Li Jsm Noho Artwalk Sub 1 LLC" which was purchased from Ruthie and Yoram Levy Trust for an unknown amount on May 27, 2008. 
West Property

  1. 11125 Weddington St: 8,749 sqft lot with 5,000 sqft building built in 1969 designated for Animal Kennel, 11121 & 11117 (8,750 sqft lot with 5,000 sqft building built in 1969 designated for light manufacturing) currently owned by "Pr Li Jsm Noho Artwalk Sub No 4 LLC" which was purchased from George Thomas Enterprises on December 6, 2007 for $5,900,000. 
  2. 11111 Weddington St: 8,750 sqft lot with 5,000 sqft building built in 1968 currently owned by "Pr Li Jsm Noho Artwalk Sub No 4 LLC" which was purchased from Wright Porperties LLC on December 13, 2007 for $2 million.
  3. 11108 Chandler Blvd (8,562 sqft vacant lot), 11114 (8,562 sqft vacant lot) owned by "Pr Li Jsm Noho Artwalk LLC" which was purchased by the Gulbranson family April 10, 2007 for $4,312,500 
You can view more SFV Architecture and R.E. here. 

Share This:

Post Tags:

Marty Mcfly

Anything and everything about the San Fernando Valley. This blog will take you back in time when the valley was covered with dirt and orange groves to a leader in the space race to its current status as America's suburb. Come along and join me on this adventure, I guarantee you have been influenced/impacted by the San Fernando Valley in one form or another even if you have never visited or heard of the SFV.

Posted by Marty McFly at 4/27/2015 06:16:00 PM
Labels: , , , , , ,

No Comment to " Historic Weddington House in NoHo to be Relocated within 329 Apartment Units Mega Project "

Subscribe to: Post Comments ( Atom )
  • To add code Use [pre]code here[/pre]
  • To add an Image Use [img]IMAGE-URL-HERE[/img]
  • To add Youtube video just paste a video link like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0x_gnfpL3RM