From Retail to Research: The Transformation of Westside Pavilion into UCLA Research Park
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is undertaking an ambitious project to repurpose the former Westside Pavilion shopping mall into the UCLA Research Park, a state-of-the-art facility dedicated to scientific research and innovation. This transformation marks a significant shift from the mall's original purpose as a retail and entertainment hub to a center for advanced research in fields such as immunology, immunotherapy, and quantum science and engineering.
Historical Context: From Westland to Westside Pavilion
The site of the future UCLA Research Park has a rich history. Originally, it was occupied by a mini mall known as Westland and a free-standing May Company building, constructed in 1964. The Westside Pavilion, as it was later known, was developed by the Australian Westfield Group. Designed by The Jerde Partnership, the coordinating architectural firm of the 1984 Olympic Games, the mall boasted a bold, modern design with orange, lavender, and green accent colors in geometrical shapes, evoking a Parisian shop-lined street. The mall connected an existing May Company department store at Pico and Overland with a brand new Nordstrom anchor store at Pico and Westwood.
The construction of the Westside Pavilion was not without controversy. The surrounding community raised concerns about increased traffic and parking issues. In response, the community banned street parking for non-residents, and the developers agreed to provide adequate parking within the mall, as well as retain the Vons supermarket that existed in the previous shopping center. Despite the initial concerns, the mall quickly became a Westside landmark.
Expansion and Decline
In 1986, plans were made to build a massive movie theater complex on the opposite side of Westwood Boulevard from the mall. This plan eventually evolved into an expansion of the mall, designed by the mall's original architect, Jon Jerde, which included new shops and al fresco restaurants, all connected to the rest of the mall by a bridge over Westwood. The addition, officially known as "Westside Too", opened in 1991 with great fanfare. However, its popularity soon began to decline as clients favored the original part of the mall. By the late 1990s, only a few shops and restaurants remained open in Westside Too. The only major features remaining were the Barnes & Noble bookstore and the 1,000 parking spaces it had added. Most of Westside Too still had the dated early-1990s decor on the abandoned storefronts.
The original part of the mall was renovated in 2000 with the installation of carpeted seating areas and German limestone flooring to give it a more contemporary and upscale look. A new addition opened in June 2007; Barnes and Noble was the only store from Westside Too that remained in the new addition. The addition included a Landmark Theatre showing exclusively independent films - with 12-screens and 2,000 total seats. The theater also featured Landmark's new "Living Room" brand auditoriums, with smaller capacity theaters (30-50 people) with sofas, ottomans, side-tables and other home-like amenities.
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In the late 2000s, the mall faced further challenges. In early 2015, Nordstrom announced it would relocate its Westside Pavilion store to Westfield Century City, a competing shopping center less than two miles away. On October 27, 2017, it was announced that Macy's would be closing in March 2018. On January 10, 2019, Macy's announced that the Macy's Furniture Gallery would also be closing as part of a plan to close 8 stores nationwide.
Transition to Office Space: One Westside
In early 2018, Macerich announced a joint venture with Hudson Pacific Properties in which most of the retail space within the three-story enclosed structure would be converted into office spaces for media and technology companies. Hudson Pacific Properties planned to redevelop the mall into "One Westside", a new office complex for Google. It was anticipated to occupy 584,000 square feet (54,300 m2) and cost $410 million to renovate. After the conversion, the 12-screen Landmark Theater multiplex was to remain open to the public, but it closed on May 22, 2022. The Westside Tavern restaurant was also intended to remain, but it closed in October 2020, due to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The former Macy's department store was converted into a center for tech and entertainment tenants called West End. Macerich was going to retain 25% ownership in the repurposed property.
UCLA's Acquisition and Vision for a Research Park
In late December, UCLA announced a deal to purchase the property, located 2 miles (3.2 km) south of the Westwood campus. UCLA acquired the property and the attached multiplex theater - occupying 10800, 10830 and 10850 W. Pico Blvd. - from Hudson Pacific Properties and Macerich.
The acquisition caps a multiyear effort by Dr. "UCLA’s goal is to build the immunology equivalent of Silicon Valley in Los Angeles," said Mazziotta.
The expansive, high-ceilinged indoor space will house research laboratories and offices. The companies redeveloped a significant portion of the former mall, updating building systems infrastructure and conducting a major seismic retrofit, as well as adding a new window wall, concrete building facades, courtyards, terraces and patio areas.
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"With its acquisition and exciting plans for a research park, UCLA will continue to transform this incredible property in ways that serve Los Angeles and the world," said Victor Coleman, chairman and CEO of Hudson Pacific.
According to a press release from UCLA, Google - which previously leased part of the property - helped enable and support UCLA’s acquisition. “We’re delighted that UCLA will be further developing this state-of-the-art facility to help accelerate transformative research and innovation,” said Scott Foster, Google’s vice president of real estate and workplace services.
The 700,000-square-foot property, located 2 miles south of the Westwood campus, will initially host two multidisciplinary research centers: the California Institute for Immunology and Immunotherapy at UCLA and the UCLA Center for Quantum Science and Engineering.
The new UCLA Research Park is made possible in part by an intended $500 million investment, with $200 million already allocated, from the state of California to establish and fund the immunology and immunotherapy institute at UCLA. The institute is also supported by a group of founding donors from the biotechnology, academic, entrepreneurship and philanthropic communities led by Meyer Luskin, Dr. Gary Michelson, Dr. Eric Esrailian, Dr.
"This purchase exemplifies the remarkable collaboration between the University of California, the state of California and our partners in the private sector," said UC President Michael Drake. "We’re grateful to Gov. Newsom and the state Legislature for their continued support.
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“The California Institute for Immunology and Immunotherapy has the potential to reshape the future of science and medicine,” said the institute’s founding donors. “We are proud to join UCLA, UC President Drake, Gov. Newsom and the state Legislature in helping make California a world leader in decoding the still-mysterious workings of the human immune system and translating breakthrough discoveries into lifesaving immunotherapies.
The institute will draw on the expertise of UCLA faculty members, scholars from different higher education institutions, and other leading scientists and practitioners in clinical and biomedical scientific research, including human genetics, genomics, computer science, engineering and information science.
The UCLA Research Park will also be home to the UCLA Center for Quantum Science and Engineering, which conducts research in the emerging field of quantum science and technology - including quantum computing, communication and sensing - with the aim of dramatically increasing information processing power by harnessing the unusual behavior of subatomic particles. Founded in 2018 and operated by the UCLA College’s Division of Physical Sciences and the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering, the center has received funding from Boeing and the National Science Foundation, among others, and counts more than two dozen UCLA faculty from the fields of physics, engineering, computer science, chemistry, mathematics and biostatistics among its members. Notably, the center will also house the Quantum Leap Challenge Institute for Present and Future Quantum Computation, an NSF-funded initiative that includes UCLA and seven other universities.
Both the quantum center and the immunology and immunotherapy institute will provide opportunities for UCLA students, early-stage faculty and others, offering unparalleled research and training opportunities in a unique interdisciplinary environment. The UCLA Research Park will also serve campus units spanning the disciplines, as well as the broader university community. In addition to its flexible work areas, the former mall includes a full 12-screen multiplex movie theater that may be converted into lecture halls or performance spaces, allowing UCLA to offer programming across the arts, humanities, sciences and social sciences.
"The research park directly embodies UCLA’s strategic priority of expanding scholarship and engagement to benefit the public good," said Roger Wakimoto, UCLA’s vice chancellor for research and creative activities, who helped envision the new development.
The property is easily accessible by a number of public transportation lines, including the Westwood/Rancho Park Metro station, which connects directly to downtown.
"We’re delighted that UCLA will be further developing this state-of-the-art facility to help accelerate transformative research and innovation," said Scott Foster, Google’s vice president of real estate and workplace services.
The vast new space, which straddles the southeast and southwest corners of Pico Boulevard and is connected by an enclosed pedestrian bridge over Westwood Boulevard, features a broad metal and glass facade and open areas with 17-foot ceilings, panoramic windows and expansive atriums inside and out. In addition to research labs and offices, the property has the potential for additional uses, including classrooms, lecture halls and event venues.
UCLA's Expanding Footprint
The purchase of the nearly 700,000-square-foot Westside Pavilion marked the third major acquisition for the public university system in Los Angeles in less than two years.
Seeking to expand its footprint, UCLA announced last summer it acquired the Art Deco-style Trust Building in downtown Los Angeles and renamed it UCLA Downtown. Just nine months prior, UCLA spent $80 million to buy two other major properties owned by Marymount California University, a small Catholic university that shuttered last year. The purchase included Marymount’s 24.5-acre campus in Rancho Palos Verdes and an 11-acre residential site in nearby San Pedro.
A Hub for Research and Innovation
At the state-of-the-art facility, scientists, industry partners, government agencies, startups and students will pool their expertise to expand the boundaries of science, medicine and technology. Quantum computing, for example, will be a top priority for the quantum center, with interdisciplinary teams seeking to harness the strange behavior of subatomic particles to construct machines far more powerful than anything imaginable today.
The ambitious effort to turn a former bustling hive of commerce into a bustling hive of transformative research is one that will most certainly pay dividends for UCLA, the people of Los Angeles and the world. “Leveraging the next waves of technology and science,” said California Gov.
"This acquisition will be absolutely transformative for UCLA, our great city and the world. Gov. Gavin Newsom and the California Legislature helped make this possible through a generous state investment, and we are deeply thankful for their support," said UCLA Chancellor Gene Block.
According to the Creating the Future UCLA Strategic Plan 2023-2028 timeline, the Westside Pavilion transformation is part of the research and creativity goals; the timeline’s other goals include focusing on UCLA in the community, global reach, and elevating teaching and institutional effectiveness.
Since UCLA acquired the former mall in January 2024, UCLA named the special advisor to the vice chancellor for the project in April 2024 and named the master plan designer for the transformation in May 2024. The plan suggests that the initial phase should be finished in the fall of 2024.
This acquisition - which delivers on our 2023-28 Strategic Plan goals of deepening ties to L.A. and using our research prowess to advance the common good - will be absolutely transformative for UCLA, our great city and the world.
Many, many people have been involved in helping to secure this acquisition and lay initial plans for the UCLA Research Park, and I thank all those who have supported the project thus far. I would like to extend particular gratitude to Vice Chancellor for UCLA Health Sciences and CEO of UCLA Health Dr.
Community Impact and Legacy
The Westside Pavilion was used for music videos and motion pictures. The mall scenes in Tom Petty's video for "Free Fallin'" were filmed here (circa 1989), while its exterior was featured in the film Clueless.
The Westside Pavilion was a hub for shoppers, a popular filming location for television and movies, and a hangout for teenagers since it opened in 1985. Neighbors will remember buying books at the three-level Barnes and Noble, catching an art film at the popular Landmark Theatre and having a special family dinner at the Westside Tavern.
A fixture of West Los Angeles since its opening in 1985, the Westside Pavilion quickly became a much-visited retail location and gathering spot and continued to evolve over the following three decades. At one time, the site featured a three-level bookstore and multiple movie theaters and appeared as a backdrop to numerous movies and TV shows. Over the past decade, it suffered from a decline alongside other indoor malls across the country, leaving storefronts largely empty.
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