Sky's the limit -- another high-rise comes to L.A.

The Los Angeles City Council today approved a 23-story condominium tower on the site of the vacant Spaghetti Factory restaurant in Hollywood, including two billboard-size signs on the building’s south and west sides.

The 305-unit project was approved despite objections from neighborhood critics who argued that it had received too many exceptions to the city’s planning and zoning rules, from higher density to the location of the “supergraphics” –- signs stretched across vinyl on part the building’s exterior. Although the city’s code would have required 512 parking spaces, the developer was allowed to build 416, according to a report prepared for the council on the project.

“This project is drastically under-parked,” said neighborhood activist Ziggy Kruse. “This area already has a recognized critical parking shortage.”

Councilman Ed Reyes said the project is part of a larger effort to encourage residents to walk instead of using their cars. “This is a change in our culture,” he said.

Sunset and Gordon Investors LLC, which is developing the project, has received at least $13 million in financial help to build the project, which will include a park, restaurants and offices, according to city officials.

The developer of the project, Sunset and Gordon Investors LLC, intends to preserve the Spaghetti Factory building, which was built in 1924 and originally housed an auto dealership. Craig Lawson, a lobbyist for the developer, said the project would provide much-needed office space for Hollywood and said his company has a track record of building residential projects with “outstanding design” in Los Angeles.

Today’s vote comes two weeks after the council voted to approve a 16-story residential tower in Hollywood next to the Capitol Records building. Construction is already underway on a 305-room W Hotel at the corner of Hollywood and Vine.

-- David Zahniser

Sky’s the Limit

Welcome to a new feature called Sky’s the Limit, in which The Times' David Zahniser will periodically point out those extra-big development projects getting the green light in and around L.A.

The L.A. City Council approved plans today  for a 16-story residential tower in Hollywood, following weeks of warnings that construction work on the project would disrupt recordings at the landmark Capitol Records building next door.

Councilman Eric Garcetti, who represents a portion of Hollywood, said the city had added new measures that would safeguard work at the building’s underground recording studios, which will be located less than 20 feet from the new project’s six-level, 242-space subterranean garage.

The project will establish a fund to compensate EMI, the parent company of Capitol Records, if recording is disrupted, Garcetti said.

Second Street Ventures, which is developing the project, has also agreed to adopt construction techniques that minimize noise at Capitol Records’ underground studios, according to the plan.

“We all learned a lot more about vibrations than we ever knew before this started,” Garcetti said.

-- David Zahniser