Development in the Mile continues with mostly luxury high rises – Larchmont Chronicle

AN ART DECO-compatible, 42-story, high-rise is planned to break ground in 2021 at 5411 Wilshire Blvd. at Cochran Ave.

After years of construction, the Miracle Mile is breathing a collective sigh of relief.

But not for long. While much has been built in recent years, theres much more development coming down the pike.

This planning stuff has consumed us for five, 10 years, said Miracle Mile Residential Association (MMRA) President Jim OSullivan.

These big things seem to be sprouting up all over the place. It seems like everyday something new comes up.

The Mile is about to see its tallest development yet if all goes according to plan.

A 42-story luxury high-rise is planned at the Staples office supply store site at Wilshire Blvd. and Cochran Ave.

CIRCA 1939. The Sontag Drug Store on the northwest corner of Wilshire and Cloverdale avenues, today is the site of Wilshire Beauty Supply; it will remain as part of the new skyscraper plans.Courtesy of Miraclemilela.com

Developer Wally Marks, whose family owns the property, plans to reveal up-to-date details about the project this month.

Meetings have already been held with some members of the community, and the projects size has been reduced with good results.

I think its a better project, Marks told us.

Earlier reports detailed 371 apartments, including 56 low-income units, in project architect Richard Keatings design. It blends the new a robotic parking system and yoga studio with the old an Art Deco-compatable design to reflect the areas origins, and the single-story Wilshire Beauty Supply, built in 1930 as a Sontag Drug Store, whose faade will remain.

Marks expects to break ground at the end of 2021, with an opening in 2023, the same year as the debut of the Purple Lines Wilshire and La Brea subway station.

The Wally Marks project on Wilshire will be a class act, said OSullivan.

Marks, developer and owner of the renovated Helms Bakery District retail site in Culver City, and developer Jerry Snyder (who built the Wilshire Courtyard) are known for quality projects, OSullivan commented.

THE RESIDENCES at Wilshire Curson, 285 new apartments in a 20-story building, has topped out, half-way between Sixth St. and Wilshire Blvd.

JH Snyder Company and partner OGO Associates are constructing a 20-story apartment building boasting panoramic views and a rooftop resort pool.

The building has already topped out. To be called The Residences at Wilshire Curson, the project includes 285 apartments in the MVE+Partners design that rises next to the SAG-AFTRA Plaza and across Curson from the Los Angeles County La Brea Tar Pits. The development includes subterranean parking. Opening date is early 2021.

RENDERING shows CGI Strategies proposed mixed-use development on La Brea Ave., adjacent to the subway station.

CGI Strategies plans a hotel / apartment / commercial-use building for the site just north of Wilshire Blvd. on La Brea Ave., right next to a subway station entrance.

The eight-story complex includes 121 apartments and 125 hotel rooms and 13,037 square feet of commercial / restaurant / retail space. The Morris Adjmi Architects design includes two pools on the top floor and has two levels of subterranean parking.

The 210,123-square-foot development is still in the midst of the entitlement process. But things are moving forward nicely, project spokesperson Bruce Beck of DB&R Marketing Communications told us.

But the project has hit some roadblocks.

Its been postponed indefinitely, OSullivan told us. Theyre getting a lot of pushback from neighbors and businesses opposing the added traffic the project would bring to the congested area.

The project will be separated by an alley from the Purple Line subway station. It will back up to residential parking garages on Detroit St., which is already a problem for traffic, say neighbors.

On the plus side, We are going to need a hotel when all the museums open up, and the project will provide living-wage jobs, says OSullivan.

But as it is, it is too ambitious. Theyre going to have to go back to the drawing board.

TOM BERGINS STAYS PUT and a new eight-story, 209-unit residential development is proposed next door.

An eight-story, 209-unit development and 2,500 square feet of commercial space is proposed at 800 to 840 S. Fairfax Ave., at the corner of Eighth St. To the south of the proposed new buildings, the project includes a landscaped plaza on the site of the parking lot at Tom Bergins Bar & Restaurant.

The favorite neighborhood pub will remain. It was declared a Historic-Cultural Monument in June; its parking lot was excluded from the designation.

Applicant Christopher Clifford of Las Vegas Colliers International has filed for an entitlement application with Los Angeles City Planning.

According to city documents, the residential units would be over three levels of garage and commercial space, and there will be underground restaurant parking to replace Bergins present surface parking.

Two existing two-story buildings that contain 40 rent-stabilized units would be demolished. The new development would provide 28 units of extremely low-income housing in exchange for a density bonus, reduced parking and increased floor area, among other benefits.

The MMRA has come out against the project, and the association is in contact with the tenant union that has recently formed, OSullivan told us.

The project design by Reed Architectural Group is among those seeking to benefit from the citys Transit Oriented Communities incentives designed to create more affordable housing. The project is one block from the purple Line Fairfax subway station.

These new developments, if approved, will join recently opened apartment buildings, including The Mansfield, The Avalon, Wilshire La Brea and 5600 Wilshire.

Tags: Miracle Mile Residential Association, MMRA, Sontag, Tallest skyscraper, Wally Marks, Walter N. Marks

Category: Real Estate

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Development in the Mile continues with mostly luxury high rises - Larchmont Chronicle