Breaking: UCLA is buying the Westside Pavilion
The building has previously been slated to serve as an office campus for Google
Nearly five years ago, developer Hudson Pacific Properties kicked off the new year by announcing a landmark deal to transform the shuttered Westside Pavilion shopping mall into a more than 580,000-square-foot office campus for Google. Now, that deal appears to be in doubt as an L.A. institution takes control of the property.
An environmental notice published earlier today states that UCLA is acquiring the former Westside Pavilion for an undisclosed sum from Hudson Pacific Properties and Macerich. The purchase will include the eastern half of the mall at 10800-10830 W. Pico Boulevard, which has been gutted and converted into office space, as well as the largely unchanged western portion of the mall at 10850 W. Pico Boulevard.
The university's plans for the site are not set in stone at this point in time.
"The University will make no decision to undertake further development until it has complied with CEQA and an overall site development plan has been approved..." reads the notice.
The purchase does not appear to include the West End, formerly the Westside Pavilion's Macy's, which has been converted to a separate 240,000-square-foot office complex by GPI Cos. A parking garage that once served the mall has since been razed, and is now being redeveloped with a mixed-use apartment complex by GPI.
With or without the Westside Pavilion site, Google retains a large presence in the Los Angeles area. Google and YouTube currently call a series of historic Hughes Aircraft facilities home in Playa Vista, including the 300,000-square-foot Spruce Goose hangar. The Mountain View-based tech giant also owns 12 acres of adjoining property, but has not announced its plans for the vacant land.
The Westside Pavilion may be the largest acquisition yet for UCLA, which has gone on a buying spree over the past two years, acquiring the historic Trust Building in Downtown Los Angeles for a satellite campus and the former Marymount California University campus in Rancho Palos Verdes.
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