Crane removing middle section of KTLA tower on Sunset and Van Ness.
Workers were busy Monday removing the 160-foot iconic radio tower from the corner of Van Ness Avenue and Sunset Boulevard. The plan is to restore the tower and then re-install it with updated KTLA signage on the western edge of the property at Sunset and Bronson, the tower’s original location from 1925-1950.
The tower was originally one of two on the lot built in 1925 to transmit Warner Brothers’ KFWB 980. The other was permanently removed in 1950 and this one was moved from in front of the building along Sunset at Bronson to the current location on Van Ness and Sunset. The KTLA call letters have been on display on the tower for more than 60 years.Middle section of the KTLA tower in flight!
The radio tower is being moved in order to make way for a 14-story Gensler designed high-tech office building that will anchor a newly developed media campus on the Sunset Bronson Studios lot. Developer Hudson Pacific Properties purchased the property – home to KTLA Channel 5 – from Tribune in 2007 for $130 Million. Construction began earlier this year on the overall project to re-new this 313,722 square foot property.
The final view of the KTLA tower on the corner of Sunset and Van Ness…moving to restoration and rebirth on the western edge of the property.
Icon – a 14 story tower on the Sunset Bronson lot on the corner of Van Ness Avenue and Sunset Boulevard. (photo credit Gensler website)
Hudson expects to break ground on Icon, a 14-story, 323,000-square-foot, high-tech office building on the northwest portion of the lot, in February of next year. Icon’s innovative design by Gensler architects integrates and enhances Sunset Bronson Studios’ historic character by improving site-lines and restoring the landmark office building’s façade, and featuring landscaping and architectural elements, such as free-standing columns and, of course, the former KFWB radio tower.
Mary has lived in the Hancock Park area for over 20 years - including homes in Larchmont Village and Windsor Square. Mary has lived in some great places in her life - but none compare to the convenience and majesty of our neighborhood. For Mary, the neighborhood has been a wonderful home to her large, extended family...at one time she had family members living on seven different Hancock Park area blocks! Larchmont Buzz is a labor of love - built to celebrate the neighborhood and to elevate the conversation in the area.
