Hollywood hotel.

The script of one of Hollywood's most high-profile projects--the W hotel and residential project on Vine Street and Hollywood Boulevard--is starting to take shape.

Dallas architecture firm HKS Inc. has designed the 300-room hotel and roughly 145 adjacent condos with cinematic touches to integrate it into its Hollywood location. The public pedestrian entrance, on the Hollywood Boulevard side, will include a big screen and will be the start of a red-carpet-like feature that leads visitors through the hotel to the motor court.

"A goal of ours is to relate some of the iconic concepts of Hollywood into the property. At the same time, it is not trying to copy anything," said Phoebe Yee, a vice president at HKS. "We are trying to create an elegant environment that is not bombarded with gimmicky things."

The hotel's design has been tweaked with input from the overseeing Design Review Board. Eddie Abeyta, a senior vice president at HKS, mentioned that the board wanted the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Argyle Avenue to be a prominent feature, so a steel structure that will be illuminated at night with LED lighting will be put there.

HKS is expecting to submit its drawings tO the city shortly to get building permits for the project, estimated at $500 million. Yee said HKS expects construction to start at the end of this year on the hotel, which is being developed by Legacy Partners of Foster City, Gatehouse Capital Corp. of Dallas and HEI Hospitality of Norwalk, Conn.

Last month, the City Council signed off on the project despite opposition from businesses forced to close as a result of the hotel construction. The Community Redevelopment Agency said last month it was still negotiating with current property owners on the site, but Craig Trager, whose Vintage Bar Group runs Daddy's on Vine Street, said last week he received a 90-day notice to vacate.