The playground at Beeman Park is open again. On October 7, 2026, the Studio City Neighborhood Council posted an update saying the work near the playground's access ramp is done and that a second, temporary ramp is planned so the play area can stay open for the rest of construction. The same notice says the Landale Street entrance is closed because the construction fence has been expanded.
Behind that fence is a 12,000-square-foot gymnasium and community center. It replaces a 5,723-square-foot building at the Studio City Recreation Center, which the city's own documents note is "locally known as Beeman Park." A Recreation and Parks board report dated October 1, 2026 puts construction at 79% complete and forecasts substantial completion in March 2027. That report also explains the delay. The city is finishing a building that was designed for an earlier set of rules.
A pilot drawn more than a decade ago
The new gym started as an experiment. In the board report's words, the project "was initially designed over 10 years ago as a sustainable design pilot project for gymnasiums in the City of Los Angeles." It combines passive design features with active systems that Recreation and Parks had not used on earlier projects. The plans add a 4,000-square-foot rooftop solar array, and the project is aiming for both LEED and Living Future Institute Net Zero Building certification. The Neighborhood Council describes the building as solar-powered and net-zero. The city's wording is more careful: the certifications are goals, not yet awarded.
The design was finished and permitted in 2018, then shelved because there was no money to build it. The city looked for grant funding to close the gap and restarted the project in 2021. The building it replaces dates to 1952, according to Councilmember Nithya Raman's office.
The handoff that reopened the drawings
Those three idle years cost more than time. The board report says the staff who led the design in every discipline left the city through the early retirement plan offered during the COVID-19 pandemic. The report describes what happened next in unusually plain language for a city document:
"Design staff picked up the design and updated the plans to meet the current 2020 Building Code, but did not perform additional Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC) analysis to ensure the active sustainable design elements, for all disciplines within the bid set were well coordinated."
The code kept changing after that update. Construction ran into conflicts between the 2020 Building Code the plans were written to and the 2023 code now in force. Those conflicts were resolved through change orders, both for public safety and to limit the city's exposure to Americans with Disabilities Act claims.
Problems came up underground as well. The report lists the main causes of change orders as Department of Water and Power delays in updating the transformer yard and power duct bank design, undocumented existing infrastructure, new utility requirements, coordination errors in the mechanical, electrical and plumbing design, and changes to the structural system during construction. Some of those changes affected the critical path, so the city negotiated time-impact change orders. Those time claims now make up most of the cost of roughly 40 change orders still in negotiation.
How the number grew
The budget shows the gap between the original plans and the building now going up. A city report from December 18, 2019, estimated construction at $11.5 million, with a funding shortfall of about $8.5 million. On July 18, 2024, the Board of Recreation and Park Commissioners awarded the contract to Ford E.C., Inc. for $22,225,000, which included the solar array.
| Milestone | Figure | Source date |
|---|---|---|
| Preliminary construction estimate | $11.5 million | December 2019 |
| Construction contract awarded to Ford E.C., Inc. | $22,225,000 | July 2024 |
| Change-order contingency before the increase | $3,000,000, or 13.5% of contract | Before October 2026 |
| Change orders executed | $2,793,882 | As of August 6, 2026 |
| Additional change orders forecast | About $974,000 | October 2026 |
| New contingency ceiling | $4,200,000, or 18.9% of contract | October 2026 |
| Total construction plus contingency | $26,425,000 | October 2026 |
Executed and forecast change orders together come to about $3.8 million, which leaves the original $3 million contingency short. Staff added a $400,000 buffer on top of the forecast, and the board report recommends a ceiling of $4.2 million. The report also says more change orders are expected before the project is done.
Who is paying for it
The revised funding table in the October 2026 report adds up to $26.425 million from four sources:
- MICLA: about $16.165 million
- Proposition K, L.A. for Kids: about $6.369 million, with Beeman listed as a Prop K Specified Project
- Federal HUD Community Project Funding: $3 million
- Quimby fees: $890,867
Congressman Brad Sherman secured the $3 million federal grant and presented it at the groundbreaking on August 14, 2024, with Councilmember Raman and Recreation and Parks. The council district also changed while the plans sat. The 2019 approval records support from the Council District 2 office, and the park is now in Council District 4.
What the park looks like this fall
Beeman Park covers 8.46 acres. Before construction, the city listed an auditorium and small gym, a lighted baseball diamond, basketball and tennis courts, a children's play area, barbecue pits, picnic tables and outdoor fitness equipment. The same report says the park's youth baseball program is considered the second-largest offered in public parks.
The recreation center building closed on September 9, 2024. The city's Studio City Recreation Center page said at the time that the other amenities would stay open. That notice is undated and general, so the October 7 Neighborhood Council update is the most current account. Based on that update, here is what's confirmed this week:
- The playground is open, and a temporary second ramp is planned to keep it open through construction.
- The Landale Street entrance is closed because the construction fence has expanded.
- The project is in its final phase.
Neither the city nor the Neighborhood Council has published current status for the courts, the baseball diamond or the parking lot.
Two dates for one building
Public schedules have shifted more than once. The Bureau of Engineering's project record lists the construction window as July 20, 2024 to January 16, 2027, with an estimated cost of $26 million. The more recent October 1 board report moves substantial completion to March 2027. The Neighborhood Council says it expects an "early 2027 grand opening." These are two different milestones. Substantial completion is when construction is essentially finished. The grand opening is when the public gets in, and it usually comes later.
The board report and the engineering record describe what will open: a full-size basketball court, multipurpose rooms, an office, a kitchen, restrooms and support space, all intended to give Recreation and Parks more room for programs and classes. Outside, the site work adds new paved areas for walking and gathering, turf and irrigation repairs, a larger parking lot, and new trees for shade. The Neighborhood Council's list adds upgraded picnic areas, walkways and drinking fountains. The city has not released a class schedule or program lineup for the new building yet.
Joan Duffy worked as a home builder before she became an agent. She has seen how old plans, a new code cycle and surprises in the ground can push a schedule back, and she pays attention to that history when she evaluates a renovated or newly built home in Studio City. If you'd like to talk about a property near Beeman Park, or any home with a long permit history, Joan Duffy is glad to go through it with you. Let's Connect.
