The City of Los Angeles is Densifying

In case you doubted that Los Angeles is densifying, new state data reveals that a huge majority of new housing units are multifamily (meaning apartments and condos), as opposed to single-family. In Los Angeles County, between 2011 and 2013, 87.1 percent of new residential construction was multifamily, according to California Planning & Development Report’s crunching of the numbers from the state Department of Finance. (That’s way more than anywhere else in the state–the next closest was San Mateo at 74.2 percent; neighboring Ventura was 73.9 percent and Orange was 55.5 percent.) “There’s been a general trend toward multifamily construction in California since the 1990s – it was temporarily reversed during the housing boom of 2000-2006 – and in the last couple of years rental apartments have been virtually the only housing product for which California developers can obtain financing. And the overall numbers are very low compared to the boom, when 200,000+ housing units were being constructed per year,” according to CP&DR’s Bill Fulton. Meanwhile, the report says the 2013 vacancy rate for all housing in the County is at 5.4 percent.

Curbed LA: Author - Adrian Glick Kudler

http://la.curbed.com/archives/2013/05/apartmentscondos_make_up_87_percent_of_new_la_housing.php

Increase in LA County Rents

A new report predicts that LA County will see average rents jump 4.5 percent this year, a record increase and more than double last year’s. The brokerage firm Marcus & Millichap blames low inventory and a rebounding job market for sending the average monthly rent in professionally-managed buildings up to $1,705. All those selfish people finding jobs and ruining it for the rest of us! The rent hike would be even higher, says the report, if not for the 6,000 rental units expected to be completed across the county this year, meaning there should be a bigger increase in units than there is in new renters. It’s no shocker that the areas with the highest vacancy rates are the Santa Clarita and Antelope Valleys, but seeing South LA and Mar Vista/Palms on the list of tightest rental markets in the county may raise a few eyebrows. They’re joined by Hollywood, Brentwood/Westwood/Beverly Hills, and the South Bay as the areas with vacancy rates below 3 percent.

Curbed LA: Eve Bachrach

http://la.curbed.com/archives/2013/05/la_county_rents_expected_to_hit_average_of_1705_this_year.php

New Mixed-Use Development on Santa Monica and Knoll Drive

The Santa Monica Boulevard apartmentification action is heading west–last week, West Hollywood filed a notice (pdf) that they were going to prepare the necessary environmental docs for a new mixed-use development on Santa Monica near Knoll Drive. The one-acre site is currently home to a parking lot, three two-story commercial buildings, and a single-family house, but a developer is proposing to replace all that with a five-story building of 93 apartments plus five live-work units, and 34,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space. The apartments would occupy the top three stories and include a mix of one-and two-bed units, with one three-bedroom; a total of 19 units would be designated “affordable.” Residential access would be along West Knoll Drive, and a total of 308 car parking spaces and 45 bike spots would be provided (for both the residential and the retail) on four levels; one level would be underground. No word on who’s designing the project, but the site plans (pdf) were prepared by the recently shuttered Kanner Architects. The first scoping meeting will be held next week.

Author: Curbed LA – Eve Bachrach

http://la.curbed.com/archives/2013/04/western_wehos_santa_monica_getting_mixeduse_apartments.php

10 New Single-Family Houses in Century City

Fun fact: there are only 32 free-standing single-family houses in Century City (at least according to a developer). They’re all in the gated Century Woods, home to the aging doyennes of the Westside, and now developer California Landmark Group is planning to add 10 more (the complex also has 48 condos already). CLG is working on several far-flung projects, from Larchmont to northern Hollywood to Brentwood; now they’ve just picked up 1.75 acres at Century Park West and Solar Way, according to the LA Times. The new houses will be two stories and about 5,000 square feet each, and should go for “millions of dollars apiece.” Work is expected to be finished by the end of 2014.

Author: Curbed LA – Adrian Glick Kudler

http://la.curbed.com/archives/2013/04/century_city_getting_10_new_singlefamily_houses_for_42_total.php

Century City’s 40-Story 10000 Santa Monica Site Getting Active

Behold the latest plans for 10000 Santa Monica Boulevard in Century City. Yesterday, Miami-based developer Crescent Heights submitted paperwork to the city’s Planning Department for a 283-unit condo tower, a move that starts the entitlement process.
Exact details of the project are still being worked out, but the proposed building is 460 feet, so depending on the units’ ceiling heights, the tower will be anywhere from 35 stories to 40 stories. No architect has been announced and this rendering is purely a placeholder.

Originally, a leafy Jean Nouvel-designed building was planned at this corner, but the 2.4 acre site was sold last fall to Crescent Heights for $59 million following the Lehman Brothers meltdown.

And if Century City can kick off some nasty developer vs. homeowner battles, so far the project has the support of activists like Mike Eveloff, president of Tract 7260, which represents numerous homeowner groups. From conversations with the developer, Eveloff said it’s his understanding that no variances will be sought for the tower. He also believes the units are going to be priced in a range (documents submitted to the city say the units will average $1.5 million) that will allow those who work in Century City–the lawyers, CAA agents–to be able to buy in the tower. Additionally, as proposed, no retail is planned in the project, which means the area won’t be overwhelmed with car trips, according to Eveloff. “If you look at the nature of this project, the amount of traffic is negligible,” he said.

Author: Curbed LA – By Dakota Smith

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