Adaptive Reuse in Action: Westside Pavilion Mall

Photo Source: Cbl62 at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Westside Pavilion mall in Los Angeles California was a cultural touchstone for generations. Not only was it a popular shopping location in west LA, but it was also featured in the 1995 film Clueless and in a Tom Petty music video.

But, much like other shopping malls across the county, Westside Pavilion struggled to find its footing amongst online shopping behemoths in recent decades. Despite its fame and cultural relevance, it closed its doors in 2019.

In 2022, construction began on the mall’s east side to convert it into a modern research park. The $475-million project, called One Westside, takes advantage of the mall’s high ceilings and atrium to bring natural light into the space. The former mall now houses the California Institute for Immunology and Immunotherapy at UCLA and the UCLA Center for Quantum Science and Engineering.

The One Westside research park isn’t the only adaptive reuse project at the former mall. What was once a Macy’s parking garage is now a six-story, 201-unit luxury apartment complex. The project, called Overland & Ayres, was completed earlier this year and recently began welcoming new residents.

While the Westside Pavilion mall may not be the shopping hub that it once was, it has been repurposed and adapted to meet the demands of the current market. It’s been given a makeover that Cher from Clueless could appreciate.