Why is a 12,000-square-foot gym on Rye Street taking longer to build than some high-rises? Beeman Park's building closed on September 9, 2024. The city's newest forecast says it won't reach substantial completion until March 2027.
Most of the answer has nothing to do with the dirt behind the fence. It goes back more than ten years, to when the city picked this small Studio City park to test what a green gym could be. In an October 1, 2026 report to the Board of Recreation and Park Commissioners, LA Recreation and Parks explains what went wrong and what the neighborhood gets at the end. Hardly anyone has read it.
The building was a pilot before it was a gym
The city calls it the Studio City Recreation Center. To almost everyone who uses it, it's Beeman Park, 8.46 acres at 12621 West Rye Street. Before construction, the main building was a 5,723-square-foot community building with an auditorium that doubled as a small gym. Outside are a lighted baseball diamond, basketball and tennis courts, a children's play area, barbecue pits, picnic tables and outdoor fitness equipment.
The city's report says the project was "initially designed over 10 years ago as a sustainable design pilot project for gymnasiums in the City of Los Angeles." It combined old-fashioned passive design with active systems that, in the report's words, "RAP has not used in previous projects." The new center is going for both LEED certification and Living Future Institute Net Zero Building certification. The 4,000-square-foot rooftop solar array was bid as an add-on, and the city took it.
An experimental design only works if the people who understand it are still around to build it. At Beeman Park, they weren't.
Six years from permit to groundbreaking
Here's how a design permitted in 2018 ended up breaking ground in the second half of 2024:
- 2018: The design is finished and permitted, then shelved for lack of funding.
- December 2019: A city report puts construction at $11.5 million, with an $8.5 million funding gap. Recreation and Parks applies for a Prop. 68 grant to help close it.
- 2020: The first round of bids is rejected as nonresponsive.
- 2021: With more grant money in hand, the city restarts the project.
- January 2024: The project is approved for a second round of bids.
- July 18, 2024: The board awards the contract to Ford E.C., Inc. for $22,225,000, solar included.
- August 14, 2024: Groundbreaking. Councilmember Nithya Raman's office announced the ceremony, and Rep. Brad Sherman presented $3 million in federal funds for the project.
- September 10, 2024: The contractor gets formal notice to proceed. Its scope covers tearing down the old gym, building the new center and the site work.
During those shelf years, according to the city's report, the key staff who led the design for every discipline "left the City as part of the early retirement plan offered during the COVID-19 Pandemic." The staff who took over updated the plans to the 2020 Building Code. But they did not do the extra quality checks needed to confirm that the active sustainable systems were coordinated across architecture, structure, mechanical and electrical.
Where the extra money went
Construction started, and the gaps showed up as change orders. The city's report lists the causes. DWP was slow to update the design of the transformer yard and power duct bank. Crews found existing infrastructure that wasn't on any record. New utility requirements came in. The mechanical, electrical and plumbing designs had coordination errors, and the structural system changed mid-construction. Some conflicts between the 2020 code the plans were drawn to and the 2023 code now in force also had to be fixed, partly for public safety and partly to reduce the city's exposure to ADA claims.
As of the October report, approved change orders added up to $2,793,882, with about $974,000 more forecast. Around 40 more change orders were still being negotiated. Most of their cost comes from "time impact" claims, which is what a contractor charges when delays push back the schedule. To cover all of it, staff asked the board to raise the contingency from $3 million to $4.2 million, or 18.9% of the original contract.
That brings the contract plus contingency to $26,425,000, more than twice the 2019 construction estimate of $11.5 million. Here's who is paying for it, based on the revised funding table in the October 2026 report:
| Funding source | Amount | Share of total |
|---|---|---|
| MICLA, three fiscal-year allocations | $16,165,000 | About 61% |
| Prop. K, several allocations | $6,369,133 | About 24% |
| HUD Community Project Funding grant | $3,000,000 | About 11% |
| Quimby fees | $890,867 | About 3% |
| Total | $26,425,000 | 100% |
The $1.2 million contingency increase came from Prop. K money: an extra $200,000 on one existing allocation and a new $1 million allocation. Prop. K is the city's L.A. for Kids parks program, and this project is one of the projects it names specifically.
What all that buys, beyond the walls
The building is the headline, but it's only part of the job. The scope also includes new hardscape for walking and gathering, turf and irrigation repairs, a bigger parking lot, and new trees and shade.
The tree numbers stand out. The project removed 11 trees and plans to plant 63, all from 36-inch boxes. Those trees are big enough to give real shade early on. Here's the planting list:
- Desert Willow, 14
- Red Push Pistache, 14
- Eldarica Pine, 9
- African Fern Pine, 8
- Australian Willow, 8
- Tipuana, 8
- Coast Live Oak, 2
The city projects that five years after planting, assuming 75% of the trees survive, the new canopy will cover 12,000 square feet. The removed trees covered 4,300. That's a gain of 7,700 square feet, or 178%. Anyone who has sat through a summer doubleheader at Beeman knows what that much shade is worth. The city calls the park's youth baseball program the second largest offered in public parks.
The building itself will replace a 5,723-square-foot community building with a 12,000-square-foot gym and community center. The city says programs and classes need that space. In its October 7 update, the Studio City Neighborhood Council described the new center as 100% solar-powered and net-zero.
What's open on Rye Street right now
The playground is open again. In September, the Studio City Neighborhood Council reported it was closed so the Bureau of Engineering could work safely near the access ramp, while a vendor worked on a temporary ramp at a secondary location so the playground could reopen. By the council's October 7 update, work near the access ramp was done and the play area had reopened. A second temporary ramp is planned to keep it open for the rest of construction.
The Landale Street entrance is closed because the construction fence has moved out. If you usually walk in from the Landale side, plan to come in another way.
In October, the city put construction at 79% complete, with substantial completion expected in March 2027. The neighborhood council describes the project as in its final phase, heading for a grand opening in early 2027.
For updates, the Studio City Neighborhood Council has been posting construction notes, and the city's Studio City Recreation Center page is where facility information lives.
I'm keeping an eye on the Beeman Park schedule and will pass along the grand-opening date once the city announces it. If you'd like a neighbor's take on what's changing around the park or anywhere else in Studio City, reach out to Danny Hizami anytime. Start your home search whenever you're ready.
