Steven Sharp WELCOME HOME

Back to Playa Vista, where the Los Angeles Jewish Home is currently working on their latest luxury retirement community. The Fountainview at Gonda Westside is scheduled to open in 2016, creating 175 independent living units and 24 assisted living units. The five-story, Gensler-designed structure will rise at the intersection of Jefferson Boulevard and Westlawn Avenue. The building’s “picturesque rooftop,” features a swimming pool, spa, garden, cafe and observation deck. Other residential amenities include a fitness center, library, and on-site theater.

Traveling through the so-called “Lower Westside,” you’ll notice that construction activity is in full swing throughout the Playa Vista campus. Lincoln Property Group’s Runway has taken off, Tishman Speyer plans to break ground on 200,000 square feet of office space next month, and now work has commenced on a massive residential development at the corner of Jefferson Boulevard and Centinela Avenue. Set to rise four stories, the building at 12481 West Fielding Circle would contain 703 apartment units above two levels of underground parking.

Culver City has spent the past decade beefing up its commercial peninsula along Washington Boulevard, and that trend continues with yet another mixed-use development on the way. According to plans filed late last month, a 97-unit apartment building with 15,000 square feet of ground floor commercial space is proposed at 11925 Louise Avenue. The five-story building would front the intersection of Washington and Inglewood Boulevards, rising on property that is split between the boundaries of Los Angeles and Culver City.

Last summer, the two bridges that will carry Expo Line trains over Venice Boulevard were little more than a couple of empty rebar cages. Just over half-a-year later, the concrete has cured and the only things missing from the above picture are steel rails and catenary wiring. Now carrying over 27,000 passengers on a daily basis, the Expo Line officially surpassed its 2020 ridership projection seven years ahead of schedule. That’s a positive sign, given that extensions are currently in the works at both ends of the line.

Check out some grainy cell phone pictures from a rainy afternoon in Palms. The aptly named Motor Avenue Apartments, which broke ground just over one year ago, now rises five stories north of Palms Boulevard. The $30 million project from locally-based Frost/Chaddock Developers includes 115 apartment units above ground level retail space. The building’s street-facing urban window provides a glimpse into an internal courtyard, while a rooftop atrium offers residents sweeping views of the Los Angeles basin.

Los Angeles County recently began pushing for a series of upgrades that would bring kitchy Marina Del Rey into the 21st century. A large mixed-use community planned by AMLI Residential looks like it will fit in with this new, modern vision for the neighborhood. With a cluster of five-story residential buildings, AMLI-MDR will create 585 apartment units on an L-shaped parcel at the intersection of Via Marina and Panay Way. The new waterfront complex will replace a series of low-rise apartment and commercial structures located just south of Mother’s Beach.

Across the street from the Kirk Douglas Theater, the $63 million NMS@Culver City is still chugging along. Designed by Santa Monica-based Killefer Flammang Architects, the finished product will stand six stories, containing 131 apartment units above 12,500 square feet of ground floor retail and restaurant space. Previous reports indicated that the project was expected to open this Spring. As the calendar clearly indicates, that’s probably not happening. Located less than one mile south of Culver City Station, NMS’ project is one of three spurred into action by the 2012 return of rail service to the Westside.

If you had stopped by the sprawling Playa Vista campus in early 2013, you would have been greeted with acres upon acres of empty land. One year later, you can’t miss the obvious signs of construction stretching east from the Ballona Wetlands. With steel beams and concrete pillars now protruding above Jefferson Boulevard, Lincoln Property Company’s Runway is scheduled to open in late 2014. With a $260 million budget, the mixed-use development will create 420 apartment units, 35,000 square feet of office space, and 221,000 square feet of pedestrian-oriented retail.

At long last, Building Los Angeles’ first foray into Venice. According to an e-mail tipster, excavation recently commenced on the vacant parcel at the southeast corner of Rose and Rennie Avenues. A quick perusal of LADCP records indicates that this lot, located at 542 E. Rose Avenue, is the future home of a (very) small mixed-use development. According to a 2011 presentation given to the GRVNC, a group of three Venice residents are planning for a low-rise structure that would contain just two condominium units above a ground floor restaurants.

After years of delays, long awaited plans to add hundreds of residential units to Westchester’s Howard Hughes Center are finally moving forward. Earlier this year, ground was broken on a new apartment complex, located on a formerly vacant lot at 6040 Center Drive. Rising six stories, the building will contain 218 apartment dwellings above two levels of underground parking. Permit filings from the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety indicate that a second six-story residential complex is also planned across the street at 5900 Center Drive.