Beverly Hills Launches Wilshire-La Cienega Revamp

BEVERLY HILLS, CA — Downtown Beverly Hills is due for an upgrade. With the Metro Purple Line extension recently winning an important court decision that will allow it to continue, the city has launched “Connect Beverly Hills: Meet Me On Wilshire and La Cienega.” The project will develop the areas around two upcoming Purple Line stations: Wilshire/La Cienega in 2023 and Wilshire/Rodeo in 2025.

Since the two stations are expected to result in a significant increase in pedestrian traffic, the Connect Beverly Hills initiative is working with the public and several design firms to make the streets more conducive to pedestrians. Enhanced landscaping, lighting, and bus shelters are among many new pedestrian amenities the project may include.

"We consistently heard that Wilshire and La Cienega Boulevards should be more inviting, better connect to the stations, and provide wayfinding to commercial destinations in Beverly Hills," said city spokesperson Keith Sterling, who said that a plan should be available to the public in winter or spring of 2021 and cost $872,600 or under.

The city announced the revamp not long after the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Federal Transit Administration won a lawsuit against the Beverly Hills Unified School District on May 18, bringing a nearly eight-year litigation process to an end. According to the LA Curbed Blog, the district spent over $15 million in lawsuits stemming from Metro's decision to build tunnels under Beverly Hills High School.

The public is invited to join in the brainstorming process. On the project’s website connect.beverlyhills.org, you can participate in a virtual walking tour of Wilshire and La Cienega Boulevards and give your opinion about the experience walking the busy streets. The 40-minute questionnaire asks several questions about what makes a neighborhood and its streets welcoming and enticing to pedestrians, using existing Google Maps footage of the areas in question.

In early summer, the city will host a design workshop open to the public to collect additional input about the current pedestrian experience and how it can be improved.

“Connect Beverly Hills is an opportunity to promote the new Metro stations as destinations that are uniquely Beverly Hills,” said Beverly Hills Mayor Lester Friedman. “The plan will improve accessibility and enhance the overall experience for people traveling to our City along these two historically significant corridors.”