Development WELCOME HOME

Looming on the southern fringe of Downtown Los Angeles, the 10 freeway has stood for more than a half-century as both a physical and psychological barrier to the neighborhood’s resurgence. Now, a large mixed-use development proposed for the parking lots surrounding Broadway’s Reef Building could finally provide the impetus for change. According a May case filing from LADCP, plans call for the construction of 1,449 residential units and a 208-key hotel, supplemented by 85,000 square feet of retail uses.

Much of LA County’s Metro Rail network traverses walkable, urban settings. Neither of those terms describe the immediate surroundings of the Red Line’s Vermont/Beverly Station. Flanked by a gas station and a Hyundai dealership, the auto-oriented locale hardly screams “subway station.“ Luckily, change may finally be on the way. According to an LADCP case filing from earlier this month, an affordable housing development is planned across the street from the station, located at 241 N.

Finally, the dilapidated University Village mall has a date with destiny. The last tenants have vacated the premises, and protective barriers now encircle the moribund shopping complex, which will soon be demolished to make way for phase one of the $1.1 billion Village at USC. Located on a 14-acre block bounded by Jefferson Boulevard, McClintock Avenue, 30th and Hoover Streets, initial plans call for a five-building, low-rise complex that would house 2,470 students and offer approximately 140,000 square feet of ground floor commercial space.

Although the Sunkist Growers Cooperative relocated north to Valencia last year, their former landlords have managed to land on their feet. IMT Capital–owner of the local landmark at 14130 Riverside Drive–will soon reorient their property as a mixed-use development, converting adjacent parking lots into apartment buildings. The residential-retail complex, to be known as ICON Sherman Oaks, calls for a total of 298 apartment units and slightly under 40,000 square feet of neighborhood serving commercial space.

Expo Line passengers in-between the Culver City and La Cienega/Jefferson Stations might be getting some very noticeable eye candy in the not-so-distant future. Believe it or not, LADBS permits appear to be in the works for (W)rapper, the poorly-named, Eric Owen Moss-designed creative office building slated for the intersection of Jefferson and National Boulevards. Due to an extremely high floor-to-ceiling ratio, the 12-story tower would stand 230 feet tall, giving it a monolithic presence within the primarily low-rise Baldwin Hills neighborhood.

This past June, Glendale-based PRH LA Mart shocked many observers when they announced plans for SoLA Village, a $1 billion development intended for two sprawling parking lots adjacent to South Broadway’s REEF Building. Consisting of 1.6 million square feet of new floor area, architectural renderings from Gensler and P-A-T-T-E-R-N-S portray shimmering condo towers and new apartment buildings along the path of Metro’s Blue Line. Although the project remains years away from groundbreaking, a new environmental study released by LADCP sheds light on both the timeline and the scale of the development program.

If any Los Feliz/Silver Lake denizens already feel overwhelmed by the area’s upcoming development boom, please read no further. According to a recent LADCP case filing, the property located at the northeast corner of Sunset and Hollywood Boulevards is destined for a new residential-retail complex. The project is described as an approximately 217,000 square foot structure, featuring 202 dwelling units and just shy of 15,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space.

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).

Per an LADCP case filing from last month, a sizeable multi-family residential development is headed to the western edge of Koreatown. The apartment complex, pegged for an approximately one-acre property at 700 South Manhattan Place, would offer 162 residential units within a seven-story structure. The project site, currently developed with surface parking and a nondescript two-story structure, spans slightly more than one acre near the intersection of Western Avenue and 7th Street.

Construction of Pomona College’s new 75,000 square-foot Millikan Science Hall is ahead of schedule, with the building slated for completion in mid-2015. The project, imagined as a new local landmark, was originally scheduled to open next Fall. When complete, the low-rise structure will house the school’s astronomy, mathematics and physics departments. Copper panels are currently being added to the exterior of the building’s planetarium dome, while ceramic tiles and windows are being installed on other parts of the facility.