Entitlements for the planned mixed-use Melrose Triangle development in West Hollywood, California, have expired, and no development has been proposed to replace them — effectively canceling the project, according to a report presented by city staff to the West Hollywood City Council last month.
Initially approved in 2014, the project called for a six-story, 350,000-square-foot development with 80 apartment units, 24 of them designated affordable, as well as office, retail and restaurant uses.
Since the project’s approval, the only work that has been done at the site is excavation for a parking garage. The city of West Hollywood has instructed the developer, West Hollywood-based Charles Co., to backfill the hole in a timely manner — a process estimated to require 27,000 dump trucks worth of dirt.
As required by the city, the Melrose Triangle project team from Charles Co. held three community meetings to update locals and interested parties about the upcoming project. Work is expected to begin on March 17, and the team estimates that it will take between six and nine months to fill the hole, depending on weather and the availability of fill materials, according to a statement Charles Co. provided to Multifamily Dive.
The team states on its website that market conditions do not permit the Melrose Triangle project to move forward at this time. Charles Co. owns the site, but its future has not been determined.
The hole at the Melrose Triangle site, excavated in 2021, is an estimated 270,000 cubic feet in size, said Adrian Gallo, associate planner for West Hollywood, during the city council meeting. In 2024, the site’s drainage system failed, temporarily creating a pool of standing water dubbed the “WeHo Swamp” by locals, according to KTLA5.
In response to the city council’s concerns, Gallo stated that the infill would not be sourced from debris from California’s recent wildfires, and that all infill would be tested for possible contaminants.
“It’s deeply disappointing to have waited this long on a project, only to be left with no project and significant challenges in how we move forward,” said West Hollywood Mayor Chelsea Lee Byers during the meeting. “There is nothing ideal about enforcing 27,000 truckloads of dirt — but the hole itself created its own issues with water retention, mosquitoes, dust and ongoing safety concerns.”
