Erewhon urges judge to block nearby housing development

LOS ANGELES (CN) — Upscale Los Angeles grocery store chain Erewhon asked a Los Angeles Superior Court judge on Thursday to block a large housing development next to one its locations in the San Fernando Valley, on a site once occupied by the iconic Sportsmen’s Lodge and Hotel.

Both Erewhon and the Studio City Residents Association sued the Midwood Investment & Development under the California Environmental Quality Act, in an effort to invalidate the LA City Council’s approval of the new housing project, comprising 520 apartment units, including 78 of which would be reserved for very low-income affordable housing.

They say the proposal fails to mitigate various environmental and community impacts, such as construction noise, tree removal and its impact on birds living in the area, added traffic and parking.

In a Thursday hearing, Erewhon attorney Jamie Hall emphasized the potential environmental impact of the development.

“This project is in a very high wildfire severity zone. One of the most dangerous areas of state," Hall said.

In 2021, Erewhon became a certified B Corporation, meaning it is a for-profit company that has been found to meet certain environmental, social responsibility and transparency standards.

Dan Golub, a partner at Holland & Knight representing Midwood, said the environmental document prepared by the city was supported by “3,500 pages of technical analysis.”

“There’s no experts on their side,” Golub said, calling the plaintiff arguments “layperson’s criticisms.”

In a brief filed with the court, Midwood attached as evidence an email from Erewhon CEO Tony Antoci, in which he cites as concerns “traffic and employee parking,” as well as “a couple hundred extra contractors working on the project and hundred or thousands of dirt trucks coming and going monthly.”

Midwood already owns a shopping complex called the Shops at Sportsmen’s Lodge, a 94,000-sqaure-foot retail center anchored by one of the 10 Erewhon grocery stores in LA — stores perhaps infamously known for selling a single strawberry for $20 and smoothies that can cost well over $30.

Their landlord/tenant relationship has been an unhappy one. In 2022, the developer sued the grocery store for failing to pay rent. Erewhon countersued, accusing Midwood increasing its rent and denying access to parking.

Erewhon, writing in its cross-complaint, says “This is the story of a New York developer engaging in a calloused, and illegal, bait-and-switch scheme to dupe its tenants."

Both cases are still pending.

Suits like Erewhon’s environmental one are commonly used tool to stop developments of any kind, whether they be new transportation projects, bus shelters, or housing. If successful, lawsuits under the California Environmental Quality Act can invalidate the city council’s approval of the project’s environmental impact reports.

In that case, the report must then be rewritten — a long and costly endeavor that entails public meetings and soliciting community feedback. In other words, a win for the plaintiff means a long delay, and perhaps significant changes to the project, or even bleeding the developer dry. Even if the plaintiffs lose, they can still file an appeal, delaying the project for another year or two.

The judge didn’t issue a ruling, and said he wouldn’t do so for at least a month.

Sportsmen’s Lodge was once among the oldest and most iconic locations in the San Fernando Valley, though it has served different functions and gone by different names since it first opened in the 1880s as a fishing hole, where families could catch and eat their dinners.

When Republic Studios came to Studio City, Sportsmen’s Lodge became a hangout for cast and crew members. In the 1940s, it got a restaurant and cocktail lounge, and became a destination for Hollywood A-listers like Humphrey Bogart and John Wayne — though catching your own fish remained very much part of the experience. Eventually, a hotel was built adjacent to the lodge, which became known as a quiet getaway for celebrities.

The hotel closed during the early days of the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic. Its rooms were briefly used to shelter homeless people, as part of Project Roomkey. Various proposals were floated to designate Sportsmen’s Lodge a historic site, but to no avail.

In 2021, Midwood announced plans to demolish the hotel and erect a housing complex, 97 feet tall at its highest point, along with 46,000 square feet of space for ground-floor stores and restaurants. Shops at Sportsmen’s Lodge is directly next door to the hotel.

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