Office-to-Resi Project Gets Underway in LA
A 13-story building is being redesigned to optimize natural light and contemporary finishes.
Jamison and Arc Capital Partners have begun the conversion of a 13-story, 233,000-square-foot office building at 3325 Wilshire Blvd. in Los Angeles. Upon completion, the development will feature 236 multifamily units and 15,000 square feet of street-level retail.
The property will offer studio, one- and two-bedroom units of varying size, designed with contemporary finishes and layouts to optimize natural light. The ground floor lobby will feature a leasing office and retail space and the building will include more than 450 subterranean parking spaces.
Common amenities will include a gym, yoga studio, screening room, karaoke room, golf simulator, game room and coworking spaces. The building will also offer an outdoor deck with lounge areas and cabanas.
The JV recently began the seismic, mechanical, electrical and plumbing upgrades necessary to prepare the building for residential occupancy. Other members of the redevelopment team include Corbel Architects and interior designer Shubin Donaldson. The project is being financed through a $60 million taxable multifamily housing revenue bond.
Residents will be located on Wilshire Boulevard, which passes through Los Angeles’s Koreatown neighborhood. And one thing Koreatown—and indeed, Los Angeles—needs more of is apartments, according to Jamison CEO Jaime Lee.Â
About three miles west of downtown, Koreatown is one of the densest populated areas in greater Los Angeles with about 110,000 people living within three square miles, Lee notes, and more than 90 percent of them are apartment dwellers.
Residential occupancy in the conversion project is anticipated to begin in 18 to 24 months. This Koreatown development marks Jamison’s tenth such office-to-residential conversion. The company has converted some 1.35 million square feet of older commercial office space into more than 1,200 multifamily units.
Office-to-Retail in Higher Gear Post-Pandemic
COVID-19 caused a sea change in office redevelopment. In the period before the pandemic—2015 to 2019—only 33 percent office conversion projects resulted in multifamily space, according to a JLL report. Office, and office with a mixed-use component, was the goal of 45 percent of projects.
In the years immediately following the nadir of the pandemic—namely 2021 and 2022—more than half of the office redevelopment projects result in multifamily. Approximately 29 percent were slated to be some kind of office, including as a mixed-use component.
Though there are a number of potential obstacles in converting from office to residential, developers are finding ways to proceed. From 2021 to 2024, apartment units scheduled for creation out of office space increased nationwide from a total of 12,100 to 55,300, RentCafe reports.
