On Hold: Proposed East Hollywood Target Goes Back to the Drawing Board [Updated]

Major development news out of East Hollywood today.

At today's City Council meeting representatives of the Target Corporation announced that Target was withdrawing its proposal to build a 160,000 square foot Target store in East Hollywood, at the corner of Sunset and Western. Target's representative, Bill Delvac, stated that the withdrawal of its plans "was necessary due to two unfortunate lawsuits that have been filed" against the project. Mr. Delvac did announce that Target would "be back", assumedly once it completes a full Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the project (the City had determined that a Mitigated Negative Declaration would suffice).

UPDATE: Here's a copy of Target's letter (.pdf) informing the City that it is surrendering all development rights and approvals and that it intends to prepare an EIR for the project.

Here is Bill Delvac, on behalf of Target Corporation, with the news:

The Target project, which proposed to develop a 162,415 square foot Target store along with 26,600 square feet of retail and food and 3,665 square feet of associated uses, was originally approved by the Central Area Planning Commission on June 23, 2009. The project was approved with a number of exceptions or variances from the Vermont/Western TOD Specific Plan, including various exceptions to the Specific Plan's Height and Parking requirements and its Development Standards and Design Guidelines. Three appeals were filed (by Andrew Schwartz, Robert Blue, and Doug Haines) against the Central Los Angeles Area Planning Commission's determination. The hearing of the three appeals was postponed for almost 10 months until it was finally heard at the City Council's Planning and Land Use Management Council Committee on June 29, 2010. The Planning and Land Use Management Council Committee recommended the denial of the appeals, and the City Council adopted the Planning and Land Use Management Council Committee's recommendation on Wednesday, June 30, 2010.

Today, in response to the lawsuits filed against the project, and Target's announcement that it would withdraw the project, the City Council voted to rescind its prior approval of the Target store (Item 53) and receive and file the approval of the project (Item 36). Check out Council File 09-2092 for more info.

Anyway, here's Councilmember Eric Garcetti on the floor of the City Council today, in a Tom Labonge-esque rambling speech, attempting to defend the Target project, his office's handling of it, and his work and support for other Hollywood redevelopment projects:

I have to admit I am stunned, and excited, by today's events as I've always had mixed feelings about this project. I certainly welcomed the construction of a Target store in East Hollywood, but always though that the project should have been designed to better fit the goals, objectives, and vision of the Vermont/Western TOD Specific Plan. Now that the project is going back to the drawing board I hope that Target takes advantage of this opportunity and designs a project that meets, supports, and sustains the goals of the Vermont/Western TOD Specific Plan and is appropriate for the community.

For more background on the Target project, including a breakdown of the various exceptions the project is was approved for, check out this post.