Los Angeles needs a lot more housing.
Abraham Companies submitted plans on Friday to redevelop a two-story retail building from the 1980s at a busy intersection in Beverly Grove into a mixed-use apartment community with 126 units and 11,840 square feet of restaurant and commercial space. The project will rise eight stories above three subterranean parking levels on a 0.8-acre property at 400 South San Vicente Boulevard, at the intersection with La Cienega Boulevard.
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Property records show the developer acquired the property for $26 million one year ago. The existing small retail strip called Beverly Plaza includes tenants such as Thai and Indian restaurants, hair and nail salons, a discount pharmacy, a dry cleaners and more. It’s across the street from Caruso Affiliated’s 8500 Burton, and two blocks south of the Beverly Center shopping center.
The requested entitlements for the project will utilize the state’s density bonus incentives, with 15 percent of the residential units designated as affordable housing. The Steinberg Hart-designed project is expected to take approximately 26 months to complete after breaking ground in early 2024.
Approximately 34,747 units were under construction in the Greater L.A. region at the end of 2022, according to the most recent multifamily report. However, much more is needed. The city of L.A. alone should be creating 57,000 units to meet its goal, according to the state’s Regional Housing Needs Assessment.
Greater L.A. and its 911,700 apartment units ended 2022 with a 96.3 percent occupancy rate and an average rent at about $2,147 per month, according to Colliers’ most recent report. Rents declined quarter to quarter for the first time in two and a half years, but are up 3.3 percent compared to the end of 2021, and 9 percent higher than before the pandemic. Multifamily sales totaled nearly $11 billion in Greater L.A. last year, up $185 million from the year before, and the highest total yearly sales volume in history.
Gregory Cornfield can be reached at gcornfield@commercialobserver.com.
