A West Hollywood project to transform San Vicente Boulevard into a vibrant space for programming and events between Santa Monica Boulevard and Melrose Avenue was effectively paused on July 6 after it was deprioritized by the City Council’s Finance and Budget Subcommittee.

The subcommittee received a staff report on the project and decided that in light of many other major city developments on the horizon, the San Vicente Streetscape Plaza: Sky Sanctuaries Project should be placed on the back burner, said Michael Barker, a project architect with the city. Cost estimates exceeded $20 million, and the subcommittee decided other projects should take precedence. He cited plans for a new city playhouse, new fire station and renovations at Plummer Park and Hart Park, all of which are in the planning stages, as major developments West Hollywood will need to focus on in the coming years.

The San Vicente project was early in the design review stage and deprioritizing it now allows the city to move forward in other areas. The subcommittee’s recommendation to deprioritize the San Vicente project still has to return to the City Council for a final review.

“The subcommittee is going to recommend to the council deprioritizing the project for a variety of reasons,” Mayor John Heilman said. “First, the city has other higher priority projects such as a new fire station on the east side. Second, it doesn’t make sense to go forward with the San Vicente project prior to the completion of Metro Rail. In addition, the subcommittee is concerned about the cost and ongoing maintenance of the proposal.”

The city explored the San Vicente Sky Sanctuary/Streetscape project as a way to activate a stretch of the roadway, where 20-30 street closures are implemented annually for special events. The idea was to create a “shared street” or “streetscape plaza” that could accommodate vehicle traffic but could also be closed at times to create a public plaza and extension of West Hollywood Park. Plans also called for shade structures, lighting and streetscape improvements, and a system to capture and clean stormwater. The City Council allocated $285,000 in February 2025 for a contract with Melk Urban Design, LLC, which served as a consultant on the project.

While it is possible the project will be revived down the road, it is unlikely to move forward at this time.