"The city decides when it gives approval for certain things, so River Park's opening will probably be sometime towards the end of this calendar year or the beginning of next." That is how Harvard-Westlake's Head of Upper School put it to the Harvard-Westlake Chronicle in late August. The paper reported that the opening of the former Weddington Golf & Tennis site at 4141 Whitsett Avenue had slipped from fall 2026 to early 2027, with final inspections and the certificate of occupancy still waiting on the City.
The site itself looks close. The school's construction update dated October 16 reported artificial turf going down on Field A and metal bleachers being assembled. It also scheduled field and court light testing for October 19. On that test night the field lights were set to go dark by 8 p.m. and the tennis court lights by 9 p.m., "consistent with the cut-off time once the site opens."
Those two cutoffs show how the place will work. River Park's daily schedule comes from the City approval and the school's own FAQ. Under both, the open space stays public all day, and the courts, pool, fields and track become public mostly in the hours before the school's afternoon athletics begin. None of this is in effect yet. No public opening date has been announced, so everything below is planned terms, not current operations.
The walking and sitting parts are free all day
The City's approved conditions give the public access to roughly 5.4 acres of open space and landscaped paths from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day. The school's River Park page rounds that up to six acres and describes plazas, wooded areas, trails and seating. The City's response to the project's appeal says this open space is free seven days a week. The walking path, putting green, café and clubhouse are listed as free too. Other recreational facilities carry a fee for non-school users.
The River Park FAQ lists two ways in on foot: from the Zev Yaroslavsky LA River Greenway, or through the main pedestrian and visitor entrance off Whitsett Avenue.
The clubhouse and putting green are the pieces of Weddington that survive. The City's approval removed the golf course, the driving range and the old tennis facility, and kept the clubhouse and putting green. According to the school's FAQ, Café Southwest will reopen in the remodeled clubhouse with a new kitchen and more seating. The construction team planned to finish that work first, in the hope of reopening the clubhouse and café ahead of the rest of the campus. No reopening date for the café has been announced.
Everything with a net, a lane or a goal runs on the school's clock
The school says it will generally use the athletic facilities from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. during the school year, with most use between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. The City Planning Commission's conditions set the outer limits. School-year weekday athletics run 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. outdoors and to 9:30 p.m. indoors. Saturday athletics run 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., with up to 10 later Saturdays a year. Sunday athletics are not allowed.
Public use fits into the hours the school is not using. Here is a typical school-year weekday under the published terms:
| Time of day | What the public can expect |
|---|---|
| 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. | Open space, clubhouse and putting green; tennis courts; lap swim; Field B and the track |
| 9 a.m. to noon | Open space, clubhouse and putting green; tennis courts; Field B and the track |
| Noon to 3 p.m. | Open space, clubhouse and putting green; tennis courts |
| 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. | Open space, clubhouse and putting green; school athletics at their busiest |
| 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. | Open space, clubhouse and putting green; tennis courts; field lights off by 8 p.m. |
The tennis windows in that table come from the FAQ, which says the community can use the eight courts whenever Harvard-Westlake is not using them, "in general" 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. The binding condition in the City's approval is the broader one. The courts are open to the public any time the school is not using them within the 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. window. The FAQ's hours are the school's estimate. The City's terms are what it has to follow.
The lights show how much quieter evenings will be than they were at Weddington. The plan caps outdoor lighting at 600 hours a year. The FAQ compares that with more than 2,000 hours a year when the driving range kept its lights on until 11 p.m. every night.
September through May, the pool and track belong to the early risers
The FAQ offers individual lap swimming on weekdays from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., September through May. Field B and the track are open to individuals on weekdays from 7 a.m. to noon in the same months. Outside those hours, the fields, pool and gym are for community groups when school teams are not using them.
The City's conditions describe the group side more formally. Pre-approved organizations can reserve the gym courts from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Fields A and B from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. when the school is not using them. Members of pre-approved swim programs can use the pool on weekdays from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. The school may extend public pool hours as late as 8 p.m. daily. Organizations can also reserve the gym's ground-level community room from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day.
The FAQ's individual lap swim and track hours go further than the City's language, which frames pool and field access around pre-approved programs and groups. The school has not yet published a booking system, application steps or a fee schedule for any of it. Until it does, the morning windows are the school's stated plan, and the details of signing up are still to come.
Getting in means the garage on Whitsett
The plan puts all parking at or below grade: 386 underground spaces and 17 surface spaces, with every entrance and exit on Whitsett. The FAQ tells visitors to come from Ventura Boulevard, turn onto Whitsett, then turn left into the underground garage. On-site staff will ask arriving visitors to confirm they did not park in the neighborhood, and violators can lose permission to use River Park facilities.
For walkers, the outside edge is changing ahead of the opening. Starting September 12, crews moved the Whitsett sidewalk between Valley Spring Lane and the fire station farther onto the school's property and repaired sections that had been uprooted by a foot or more. They are also widening the landscaped strip along the street and planting native oaks. The October 16 update estimated about two more weeks of work on both Whitsett and Valley Spring Lane, which put the end of the lane closure around the start of November.
Beeman Park's new gym is the City's answer on the same timeline
River Park won't be the only new recreation building in Studio City this winter. The Studio City Recreation Center, known locally as Beeman Park, at 12621 West Rye Street, is replacing its 5,723-square-foot community building with a 12,000-square-foot gymnasium and community center. That is a little more than twice the indoor space. Unlike River Park, this one is run by the Department of Recreation and Parks for its own programs and classes, with no school timetable to work around.
The Recreation and Parks board report dated October 1 puts the 8.46-acre park's youth baseball program among the largest offered in public parks. It describes the project as 79% complete, with substantial completion expected in March 2027. The scope also includes new gathering areas, a larger parking lot, new trees and shade, and a 4,000-square-foot rooftop solar array. The building is targeting LEED and Net Zero certification. Ford E.C., Inc. holds the construction contract, awarded at $22,225,000.
In the meantime, part of the park is already back. The Studio City Neighborhood Council posted on October 7 that the playground has reopened, with a second temporary ramp planned so it can stay open through construction. The Landale Street entrance is closed because the construction fence has expanded. The council expects a grand opening in early 2027. That is a different milestone from the City's March substantial-completion date. The two dates measure different things.
Taken together, Studio City is likely to get a new City gym on Rye Street and a time-shared private campus by the river within a few months of each other.
What fills the calendar before either one opens
The nearer dates on the Neighborhood Council calendar are smaller:
- Saturday, November 7, 9 a.m. to noon. LAFD Station 97's pancake breakfast at 8021 Mulholland Drive.
- Monday, November 9, 6 to 8 p.m. "Living With Coyotes" presentation at the Studio City Library.
- Saturday, December 5, 5 to 11 p.m. Tujunga Village Holiday Block Party.
- Wednesday, December 9, 6 to 8 p.m. Sepulveda Wildlife Reserve presentation at the Studio City Library.
The 600-hour lighting cap, the morning lap lanes and Beeman's March completion target all bear on what the blocks closest to Whitsett and Rye Street will be like to live near next year. If you would like to talk through how either project may affect the homes around them, Angela Waters is glad to go over it with you. Schedule a free consultation.
