City West Getting 122 More Apartments

1435 W 3rd Street

The Central City development swell continues, as yet another sizeable mixed-use project is on its way west of the Harbor Freeway.  Here's what to expect:

1435 W 3rd Street

The project includes the demolition of nine buildings with 22-single and multi-family residential units and approximately 2,000 square feet of commercial floor area and the construction of a new five-story mixed-use residential building.  The residential component of the building will include 122 residential units with 11 units reserved for very low income households, and a total of 93,885 square feet of floor area, and 122 parking spaces.  The building will also include 3,500 square feet of commercial floor area, and 7 additional parking spaces for commercial use.

The development will go by the name of "3rd and Witmer."  Fairly nondescript, but a nice shot in the arm for City West.  Just south of this location, a significantly larger development is springing up next door to the Good Samaritan Hospital.

Bixel and Lucas, designed by Nadel Architects

The Bixel and Lucas development will create 648 new apartments and approximately 40,000 square feet of retail space.  606 of those residential units would be contained in the new 6-story building seen above.  The remaining 42 units are encompassed by the adaptive re-use of the handsome 1923 Medical Office Building at the corner of Lucas Avenue and 6th Street.

The Medical Office Building

• 1435 W 3rd Street (Department of City Planning)
• Good Samaritan Mixed-Use (Nadel Architects)
• Bixel and Lucas Project DEIR (Department of City Planning)

Two Residential-Retail Complexes Start Work in Westlake

After more than a year of inactivity, mixed-use construction is finally returning to City West.  In the shadow of Good Samaritan Hospital, two developers are now in the midst of site preparation for a pair of residential complexes that will infuse the Westlake neighborhood with more than 800 new market rate apartment units.

On a 4.1 acre property immediately northeast of the hospital, the Vancouver-based Holland Partner Group recently commenced work on a long delayed $125 million mixed-use development.  Known as the Bixel and Lucas project, plans call for a low-rise development with 648 residential units and 40,000 square feet of ground floor commercial space.  According designs drawn up in 2011, the project will consist of two phases, the first of which entails the conversion of a vacant eight-story office building at 1136 W. 6th Street into 42 apartments.  The second stage, which consists of approximately 600 residential units, calls for the construction of a new, six-story building that would occupy most of the project site.  Residential amenities would include a landscaped interior courtyard, recreation room, dog run, and parking accommodations for 762 vehicles.  As part of a density bonus granted by the city, Bixel and Lucas shall reserve 30 of its residential units very low income households.  The almost 925,000 square foot development comes on the heels of 1111 Wilshire, a significantly smaller building opened by HPG in early 2013.  Bixel and Lucas, like 1111 Wilshire, features a colorful facade designed by Nadel Architects.

Image credit: Nadel Architects

1136 W. 6th Street, currently being refurbished as part of HPG's Bixel and Lucas Development.  See what it looked like before.

A few blocks southwest, Astani Enterprises recently commenced demolition on the cluster of one-story commercial buildings formerly located at 1501 Wilshire Boulevard.  In their place, the Beverly Hills-based developer intends to construct Valencia, a 218-unit complex designed by Killefer Flammang Architects.  Rising six stories, the building will offer 4,400 square feet of ground floor commercial space, in addition to a 258-car underground parking garage.  Similar to many Downtown projects currently in predevelopment, the project utilized the city's recently instated bicycle parking ordinance to allow for a 10% reduction in total number of vehicular parking stalls required.  Like Bixel and Lucas, stipulations of a density bonus granted by the city also require Valencia to include affordable housing.  In this case, a total of 18 residential units will be reserved for low income households.  The $60 million development is located just one block west of Vero, another residential-retail complex opened by Sonny Astani in 2006.

• City West Project With 640 Units to Break Ground in 2014 (Downtown News)
• Good Samaritan Mixed-Use (Nadel Architects)
• Astani's Latest Westlake Mixed-User Revealed (Building Los Angeles)