Hollywood & Vine CBA

In 2004, developers Legacy Partners and Gatehouse Capital signed a CBA involving a mixed use, transit oriented development at the corner of Hollywood and Vine in Los Angeles (right up the street from the Kodak Theater at Hollywood and Highland, which was also the subject of a CBA). The 4.6 acre, $326 million project will include a 300-room W hotel, about 500 housing units, 67,000 square feet of retail space and more than 1,000 parking spaces. As in many of the other Los Angeles CBAs, LAANE helped organize the coalition and negotiate the agreement.

Under the CBA, the developers agreed to provide living wages for all of their direct employees (including the hotel, security and parking employees), use a first source hiring program, set aside more than 20% of the rental housing as affordable (about 70 of the 350 apartments), contribute $100,000 for a career ladder training program in the culinary arts, provide $500,000 for arts programs at Hollywood High School, and fund $30,000 to sign employees and neighbors up for low cost healthcare. The hotel also reached a separate agreement with the hotel workers' union.

As of early 2008, the CBA has been implemented smoothly. The affordable units will be more affordable than originally planned, and the developer has hired a staff person to implement the local hiring program. Money for job training and the high school has also been distributed.

Eric Garcetti, a city council member at the time the Hollywood and Vine agreement was made, has written several pieces about the development process and the CBA, located here, here and here. Also, see Community Praises Hollywood & Vine Developers for Community Benefits Package; Agreement Will Bring Living Wage Jobs, Affordable Housing and Job Training to Hollywood.

Hollywood and Highland Center

The first CBA was negotiated in 1998 in relation to the planned development of the Hollywood and Highland Center, home to the theater that now hosts the annual Oscar ceremonies. The development, which includes more than 4,000 theater seats, several parking lots and hotels, and 1.2 million square feet of retail space, was projected to cost $388 million. At eight and a half acres, the project understandably sparked concerns among Hollywood residents and business owners that traffic and congestion would be increased, there might be environmental and aesthetic effects, and that crime rates might go up. With the help of Los Angeles Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg and the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE), the developer agreed to a deal with community groups: in exchange for their support, the developer offered to finance traffic improvements, ensure that workers at the center would be paid a living-wage and implement a first-source hiring plan and a policy of union-neutrality. The deal, though, was not one-sided; community support of the development helped the developer to obtain $90 million in subsidies from the city.

By most accounts the project has been a success: in addition to revitalizing Hollywood Boulevard, nearly seventy percent of the initial employees hired at the complex were recruited from the immediate area and about half of the permanent positions provide living-wages. In 2004, LAANE reached another CBA for a development just down the street from Hollywood and Highland. The benefits package for the Hollywood and Vine mixed-use, transit-oriented development included similar living wage, affordable housing and job training provisions.