Steven Sharp WELCOME HOME

Culver City’s Hayden Tract has long served as an architectural playground for Eric Owen Moss. In recent years, the SCI-Arc director has designed a variety of undulating structures that decorate the former industrial neighborhood, including a vertical cactus garden and the Samitaur Tower (a familiar landmark to Expo Line passengers). Moss’ latest creation is a four-story mini-tower dubbed “Waffle,” currently taking form on Hayden Avenue. World Architecture News reports that the project will stand 55 feet tall, containing a conference area, mezzanine lounge, closed meeting space and a rooftop deck.

Mar Vista’s stretch of Washington Place will soon get a nice shot in the arm, as a parcel at the southwestern corner of the intersection with East Boulevard will soon get eight mini-houses via the small lot subdivision. The 8 East Homes will range from 1,600 to 2,000 square feet, each containing 3 bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms. They will also be equipped with roof top decks, offering panoramic views of the LA basin.

Looks like Palms’ next mixed-use development may be a blast from the past. Curbed LA first spotted a project from Gateway Equities, LLC working its way through the Department of City Planning back in 2011. Last month, plans re-emerged for “The Palms,” a mixed-use development intended for the parcel at the northeastern corner of Washington Boulevard and Overland Avenue. The project is set to stand six-stories, consisting of 126-residential units above 41,000 square feet of ground level commercial space.

A year and a half after the Expo Line finally brought rail service back to the Westside, Culver City is up to its ears in transit oriented developments. Earlier this week, heavy equipment and sidewalk scaffolding showed up at the abandoned used car dealership across the street from Culver City Station. It looks like the Runyon Group’s highly anticipated mixed-use complex, known as “The Platform,” is finally starting construction. The project, designed by Abramson Teiger Architects, will create ample retail, restaurant and office space just east of Downtown Culver City.

Density averse Westside residents may object, but the Martin family continues to press onward with ambitious plans to convert their Cadillac dealership into a mixed-use development. Although Martin Cadillac has been a West LA landmark for decades, the coming of the Expo Line motivated the family to re-envision their property with retail, office and residential space. The Martins have set up a page for the Martin Expo Town Center on Popularise, providing neighbors a venue to offer critiques and suggestions for the project.

Get ready for more stucco clad mixed-use apartments in Westchester, as the second phase of Decon Properties’ Playa Del Oro springs up on Manchester Boulevard. The $67 million Playa Del Oro North, designed by Eduardo Cespedes Architecture, will create 260 residential units and 5,000 square feet of ground floor retail when completed in fall 2014. The building will be served by a 515 stall underground parking garage, with amenities such as a fitness center/sauna, a “resort-style pool,” a game room, a dog park, and a screening room.

There’s always more demand for retail and residential space west of the 405, right? Santa Monica based Metropolitan Pacific Capital is currently working on plans for Picasso Brentwood, a mixed-use development pegged for three parcels just east of the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and Bundy Drive. The project’s case filing with the Department of City Planning describes a six-story, 81 unit development served by roughly 7,500 square feet of retail space and a 126 car garage.

Little Tokyo has seen construction start on a pair of new mixed-use developments within the past year, and now its Westside counterpart wants in on the action. Plans were submitted last week for a 52-apartment development at 1900 Sawtelle Boulevard, located on the northern end of the Japanese-American cultural enclave sometimes referred to as Little Osaka. The apartments would be housed within a five-to-six story building, featuring just under 3,300 square feet of ground floor restaurant space.

If you take a quick walk south from the Hollywood/Western subway station and the CIM Group’s underwhelming retail center, you’ll notice crews hard at work on a multi-family development at the southeast corner of Western Avenue and Carlton Way. The Killefer Flammang designed Argyle Apartments started construction earlier this year and are expected to bring 40-units of affordable housing to the market by Spring 2014. The $17.5 million project is the work of Gay & Lesbian Elder Housing (GLEH), a non-profit organization which buildings homes for low-income gay seniors (talk about your niche markets).

Just north of Jefferson Boulevard and Centinela Avenue, Texas based Dinerstein Cos. is wrapping up construction on a development which has transformed the former site of a church into a multi-family residential complex. The project at 5550 Grosvenor Boulevard, dubbed Millennium Del Rey, will create 196 apartments within a stucco-clad four-story structure. Units in the LEED Silver Certified development will range from one to three bedrooms, featuring high-quality fixtures and smart home technology.