Mid City WELCOME HOME

Alliance Realty Partners, a national developer of multifamily residential complexes, is in the midst of construction for Broadstone Fairfax, a mixed-use building in Mid City Los Angeles. The five-story building, now rising at the intersection of Fairfax Avenue and San Vincente Boulevard, will consist of 149 residential units and nearly 4,300 square feet of ground-floor retail space. According to the website of the Cuningham Group, design architect for the project, the low-rise complex will employ renewable energy and reduce water use through photovoltaic panels, green roofs, low-flow plumbings and a greywater system.

The blighted industrial stretch of Jefferson Boulevard that cuts through Mid City Los Angeles could be livened up with a mixed-use development. According to an agenda item from last month’s meeting of CRA/LA, West Hollywood-based Charles Company could take control of a former CRA asset at 3900-3914 W. Jefferson Boulevard to build an office building with ground-floor retail space. However, the height and square footage of the building has not been determined.

Los Angeles-based real estate firm RBM of CA has started construction on a multifamily residential development in the South Robertson neighborhood. The seven-story structure, now rising at 8950 Pico Boulevard, will offer 36 apartments with studio, one- and two-bedroom floor plans, seated above approximately 1,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space. Three of the building’s residential units would be set aside for very low income households. According to a page from the RBM website, units in the podium-style complex will range from 530 square feet to 1,078 square feet in size.

An automobile repair business in Mid City could give way for a mixed-use development. Earlier this week, plans were submitted to the City of Los Angeles to construct a residential-retail complex on a quarter-acre site at 5835 W. Pico Boulevard. A case filing from the Department of City Planning list the project as a four-story structure featuring 28 apartments - including three units of very low income housing - seated above street-level retail space and two levels of underground parking.

According to a memo from the Los Angeles City Council, a private entity has expressed interest in developing a pair city-owned parking lots in the Mid City neighborhood. The two properties, located at 4600-4616 W. Washington Boulevard and 4601-4615 W. Washington Boulevard, are currently zoned for industrial use. The Mid City Neighborhood Council has reportedly expressed a desire for a mixed-use development on the property featuring ground-level commercial space, rental apartments and replacement parking.

In mid-July, the Park La Brea News announced that Shalhevet High School was planning to rebuild its campus and add an adjacent mixed-use development. Now that some more information on the project has been made public, we can get a better look at what’s to come. For the purpose of this blog, I don’t have much interest in the school building. Sorry Shalhevet, it’s not personal (just business). So we’re going to focus on the residential structure, the specs of which read as follows: …a mixed-use residential project with approximately 149 residential dwelling units and approximately 4,280 square feet of ground floor commercial space on the south parcel.

More low-rise action in the (sort of) Westside. Just one block east of the soon to be reactivated Helms Bakery, plans are in the works for six houses via the city’s small lot subdivision ordinance. The Venice Boulevard Urban Dwellings, designed by the Los Angeles based Modative, would rise three stories at 8732 Venice Boulevard. Floor plans range from 1,500 to 1,800 square feet. The homes would front directly onto Venice Boulevard, putting their front doors just a short walk away from the increasingly busy Expo Line.

America’s most prolific home builder is once again plying its trade in Mid-City Los Angeles. As pointed out by a few keen observers, Forth Worth-based developer D.R. Horton recently broke ground on a 60-lot residential subdivision at the corner of Sawyer Street and Fairfax Avenue. Each new homes will stand two-stories, offering three and four bedroom floor plans ranging from 2,590 to 2,900 square feet in size. Renderings from Santa Monica-based Van Tilburg, Banyard & Soderberg Architects portray a series of Spanish Revival style houses, inspiring one e-mail tipster to quip that it “looks like a piece of the Inland Empire has landed in Mid-City.“ Asking prices will reportedly start at $1.2 million (ouch).