A $100 million expansion of a private girls school will move forward after the Los Angeles City Council gave its OK.
The Los Angeles Times reports that council members voted 12 to 0 in favor of the project at the Archer School for Girls, despite concerns raised by neighbors that the expansion would exacerbate traffic problems in the area.
The school, situated in the affluent Brentwood section of the city, was founded in 1995 and has about 480 students in grades six to 12. It is housed in the former Eastern Star Home for Women, a 1931 Spanish Colonial Revival building on Sunset Boulevard that was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1989
Expansion plans call for the school to add visual and performing arts centers, gymnasiums and an underground parking garage. The new facilities would enable the school to accommodate activities and performances on campus instead of renting off-site venues.
Archer scaled back its plans in response to its neighbors. It eliminated an aquatics center, reduced the number of seats in the performing arts center and agreed to a strict traffic-management plan.
The school noted that the revised plans persuaded the Brentwood Homeowners Association and the Residential Neighbors of Archer to withdrew their opposition to the project.
"This compromise truly serves as a model for how schools and neighborhoods can work together," the school says on its website.
Archer expects to begin construction in 2017, and the addition will be designed to meet LEED standards for energy efficiency and environmental sustainability.
