Steven Sharp WELCOME HOME

Looks like another underutilized Koreatown parcel is set to bite the dust, as the neighborhood continues with its development renaissance. According to a case filing with the Department of City Planning, the property at the southeast corner of Western Avenue and San Marino Street is the site of a proposed mixed-use development. Plans call for 79 apartment units above ground floor retail, served by a three-level subterranean parking garage. The project is located just across the street from Koreatown Plaza, one of the neighborhood’s largest shopping malls.

One of the San Fernando Valley’s countless auto repair shops is about to make way for a new mixed-use development. The WaterMark, a residential-retail complex from the Los Angeles-based Metric Holdings Corporation, is slated for an approximately 2.5-acre site at the crossing of Reseda Boulevard and the Los Angeles River. The low-rise project, designed by the Albert Group Architects, will contain 254 one, two and three-bedroom apartment units above slightly less than 7,700 square feet of ground-level commercial space.

After climbing upwards at a snail’s pace for two years, the wooden frame of the Sony Studios-adjacent NMS@Culver City appears to be (mostly) complete. Located at the northwest corner of Hughes Avenue and Washington Boulevard, the low-rise edifice will feature 131 rental apartments above 12,000 square feet of ground floor retail and restaurant space. The $63 million project from locally-based NMS Properties has fallen significantly behind its previously announced development timeline, which called for the residential-retail complex to open in Spring of this year.

As the first step of Loyola Marymount University’s new campus master plan, construction is underway on a $110 million academic facility that shall serve as the cornerstone of the Frank R. Seaver College of Science and Engineering. Known as the Life Sciences Building, the three-story structure will contain 34 teaching and research laboratories, 7,300 square feet of lab support space, 50 faculty offices, classrooms, underground parking, and a 292-seat auditorium. The approximately 100,000 square foot project is seeking LEED Silver certification, and will utilize environmentally friendly features such as storm water retention planters, drought-tolerant plants, and a green roof.

More than one year after plans were announced to convert Downtown’s Pershing Hotel into affordable housing, little remains of the 125 year old structure beyond its Victorian facade. The approximately $15 million project, developed by the Skid Row Housing Trust, will eventually consist of 69 studio and one bedroom units, ranging from 350 - 500 square feet. Designed by Killefer Flammang Architects, the New Pershing Hotel Apartments will rise five stories, with upper floors set back from the historic facade.

When we last stopped by 888 Olive Street in September 2013, construction on the Onni Group’s 32-story mixed-use development had only progressed to the third level above ground. Fast forward to mid-2014, and the building has already become a dominant presence in South Park, rising 27 stories above the intersection of 9th and Olive Streets. Expected to open in early 2015, the tower will offer 283 luxury apartment dwellings and 11,000 square feet of street level retail and restaurant space.

In the past year, Olympic Boulevard has become a major epicenter of Downtown’s resurgent development scene. On the western edge of the neighborhood, the boulevard is host to a slew of new and proposed hotel projects in the shadow of LA Live. One mile east in the Fashion District, Olympic dead-ends near the center of the potentially transformative City Market development. However, the greatest concentration of new investment along the Olympic corridor can be found on a two-block span between Grand Avenue and Hill Street.

This past weekend, a broken water main spilled untold gallons of precious drinking water onto the Sunset Strip, dealing yet another blow to drought-stricken California. On the other hand, flooding of a more figurative (and less dire) sort is also occurring further east along the iconic thoroughfare. Let’s for get about LADWP’s woes for a moment as we check in on the deluge of mixed-use developments adding new office space and residential units between Vine Street and the Hollywood Freeway.

Take a quick trip out to the oft-forgotten Del Rey neighborhood, where the Beverly Hills-based Lido Equities Group is working on plans for a pair of low-rise apartment complexes. The first of the two developments, a five-story building designed by Shubin + Donaldson Architects, will replace a cluster of mid-century buildings at 11811 Culver Boulevard. Each of the project’s 27 loft-style apartments will come complete with concrete floors, designer finishes, and private balconies.

Earlier this month, USC officially broke ground on its long-awaited Village development. The first phase of the $650 million project will expand the existing campus north by 15 acres, adding a combination of student housing, academic facilities and community-serving retail space. As has been the case with other recent capital investments, USC Facilities Management has set up a live-feed camera focused on project, allowing Trojans and all other interested parties to stay up-to-date on the Village’s progress.