L.A. Greenlights Wilshire Blvd. Multifamily Development

Los Angeles--The Los Angeles City Council approved plans this week for The Vermont, a 464-unit apartment complex with ground-floor retail and a public park.

Los Angeles–The Los Angeles City Council approved plans this week for The Vermont, a 464-unit apartment complex with ground-floor retail and a public park, shortly after the same plans were approved unanimously by the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency. The project will be built on a long-vacant two-acre property at the southeast corner of Wilshire Blvd. and Vermont Ave. in the Mid-Wilshire district.

“There’s a strong and growing market for modern apartment homes and retail in the neighborhood,” Michael Wise, senior partner at J.H. Snyder Co., developer of the project, tells MHN. “So the Vermont will be a welcome addition to the area.”

Construction on the Vermont is slated to begin by the end of 2011, with an estimated completion date in 2013. When finished, the property will feature two residential towers with ground-floor retail surrounding a quarter-acre central courtyard. The north and south towers will be 22 and 28 stories tall, respectively, and include one- and two-bedroom apartments. The street level will include about 41,000 square feet of retail uses, including restaurants, a grocer, a bank, dry cleaners and a coffee house.

The buildings will feature a shared, lounge-style workspace for residents, a gym and spa. The building will apply for LEED silver certification, and Snyder has made a commitment to use union labor for the project, which it estimates will result in the creation of more than 1,500 construction jobs.

As part of the project build-out, Snyder will make a $1 million contribution to a Community Benefit Trust Fund, which will be used toward developing a new neighborhood center or other capital project for the surrounding community. Also, the company has also agreed to partner with the community to build 96 affordable housing units within nearby Koreatown, and set aside 77 parking spaces within the Vermont’s underground parking garage that the public can use on a non-reserved basis.