Luxury developer Toll Brothers plans to demolish the longtime but now vacant red brick and glass Filmation building in Woodland Hills to replace it with an 8-story mixed-use structure.
The building on the corner of Canoga Ave. and Victory Blvd. that once housed the Filmation headquarters survived the 1960s earthquake. But the building has been eerily vacant since the 1994 earthquake due to retrofitting requirements, according to documents submitted with the Woodland Hills Warner Center Neighborhood Council ahead of its Nov. 8 meeting
The proposed development at 6464 Canoga Avenue in Warner Center received support at a recent meeting of the Woodland Hills-Warner Center Neighborhood Council board. The board advised the City of Los Angeles Planning Department and Council District 3 Councilman Bob Blumenfield to support the development.
“The application and plans submitted by Toll Brothers for its application for a mixed-use residential building at 6464 Canoga Avenue in Warner Center receive the support of the board of the Woodland Hills-Warner Center Neighborhood Council,” according to a motion filed during the Nov. 8 meeting.
But Jeff Bornstein, Woodland Hills resident and president of West Valley Alliance for Optimal Living said, “We have so many unhoused people that we need more affordable or non-luxury apartments because luxury apartments take away the ability from people who can’t afford those prices to get housing.”
In its heyday in Woodland Hills, Filmation produced hundreds of animations, including “Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids,” “He-Man and the Masters of the Universe” and “The Archie Show.” In the 1970s, its founder Lou Scheimer won a Daytime Emmy as producer of the “Star Trek” animated series.
Toll Brothers is planning to replace the building with a mixed-use development containing 276 residential units, including luxury units and 21 units set aside for very low-income tenants.
The new structure in the heart of the downtown district in Warner Center will offer 4,045 square feet of commercial area and 11,940 square feet of publicly available open space along with two large outdoor patios and a dog park, according to documents filed by the developer.
At least 30% of the 438 vehicle parking spaces will provide EV charging, with additional stations expected to be added in the future. All 42 trees on the property will be removed, an increasingly controversial practice in the boiling climate of the San Fernando Valley, but the developers say they will replace the removed trees with 84 new trees.
Toll Brothers still has to submit plans to the City of Los Angeles for entitlements.
