Making a Statement
Westwood's newest neighbor is the luxurious Carlyle high rise

By Greg Aragon

The Carlyle on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles is being built to stand out and make a statement.

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Rising 300 ft, the 24-story residential tower will be the tallest building in its Westwood neighborhood. And by blending classic Art Deco and contemporary design elements, developer Woodridge Capital LLC of Los Angeles, is hoping to bring "distinction, variety and complexity" to the West Los Angeles skyline, according to David Hobstetter, a principal with San Francisco-based Kaplan McLaughlin Diaz, the project's designers.

"Most of the towers along [Wilshire Blvd] are rectangular boxes," he says
"The Carlyle is a clean modern tower that has classic proportions."

Hobstetter adds that the 525,000-sq-ft building draws references from structures such as Rockefeller Center in New York, which is a classic example of art deco.

"It's not a monolithic tower," says Jack Dybas, KMD project manager. "It has a series of setbacks that make it a rather kinetic piece of architecture."

The building will sit atop a four-level, 152,000-sq-ft subterranean parking garage, with 271 spaces. The exterior will transition from Egyptian stone at the base into precast concrete panels and glass.

The project broke ground in November 2006.

Tower cranes are now rising 300 ft from a 46-ft-deep hole dug for the foundation.


Norman Husk, senior project manager for San Francisco-based Swinerton Builders, the project's general contractor, says the cranes are essential to move equipment around the "very tight" site.

"We're building almost right out to the curb and our challenge is that we only have access on one street, Wilshire, which is a main corridor," Husk says. "And everything comes in and out through Wilshire Boulevard."

He says site constraints are increased because workers are presently only allotted 3.5 hours per day of street usage, and they can't work at night because the project is in the middle of a residential area. He said they are working with the California Department of Transportation to get a private, full-time lane for project use by the end of this month.

When complete in May of next year, The Carlyle will feature 87 luxury residences overlooking the Pacific Ocean, the Santa Monica Mountains and the Wilshire Corridor. The units will average 3,500 sq-ft in size, with two penthouses nearing 7,000 sq ft.

Amenities include a 14,000-sq-ft main entrance lobby, surrounded by a library, fitness room, wine cellar, salon and spa. There will also be a 50-meter pool in the rear of the property and a helicopter pad on the roof.

Residences will feature double-door entryways, balconies paved with ceramic tile, floor-to- ceiling glass windows and fireplaces. High-end finishes such as German-made cabinetry, European appliances and stone accents from around the world will highlight interiors.

A highlight of the project is the four-bank elevator system, which will transport home owners directly to their units, with the doors opening inside their respective foyers.

"We wanted to make sure that tenants have everything at their fingertips," Dybas says.

The Project Team

Owner: Wilshire Carlyle Partners LLC, Los Angeles
Developer: Woodridge Capital LLC, Los Angeles
General Contractor: Swinerton Builders, Los Angeles office
Design Architect: Kaplan McLaughlin Diaz, San Francisco
Executive Architect: Harley Ellis Devereaux, Los Angeles
Landscape Architect: LRM, Los Angeles
Structural Engineers: Englekirk Partners LLC, Los Angeles

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