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Living Closer to Work, Family and Fun
A shortage of housing stock, low-interest rates,
and the desire to spend less time commuting on the congested
Santa Monica and San Diego freeways are some of the reasons
behind a mini multifamily building boom on the west side of
Los Angeles County.
By Greg Aragon
From Westwood to West Hollywood, the west side of Los Angeles
County is booming with new development- especially in housing
and mixed-use projects.
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The $200 million Californian in Westwood
is scheduled to be complete in September. The 23-story,
80-unit condominium project is a product of developer
Fifield Cos. of Chicago. The architect is West Los Angeles-based
Nadel Architects and the general contractor is San Mateo-based
Webcor Builders. (photo by Greg Aragon).
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Herb Nadel, president of Los Angeles-based Nadel Architects
Inc., who is working on several projects in the area, said
workers are weary of long commutes, and that's one of the
factors driving the influx of new projects west of downtown
Los Angeles.
"People can't take it anymore," he said of traffic
that is basically backed up all-day long on the 15-mi. stretch
of Interstate 10 between downtown L.A. and Santa Monica.
Nadel, whose company has roughly $300 million worth of projects
currently under construction or in the planning stages in
West Los Angeles, said that he is seeing a trend in which
people-many of whom left the city years ago to find lower-price
housing elsewhere-are now returning because of intolerable
commutes. The one major difference, however, is the much higher
prices they'll find on the west side.
"People are saying, 'I don't want to spend two hours
on the freeway everyday. My quality of life is being ruined.'
So they find ways of living in the city," Nadel said.
"It's one thing to have a nice home; it's another to
get to your job. So we have people moving back into the city."
The Californian is Coming Soon
To help accommodate these reverse "immigrants,"
Nadel has lent his design expertise to projects such as the
Californian on Wilshire Boulevard in Westwood, located about
5 mi. west of Santa Monica. The $200 million Californian is
scheduled to be complete in September. The 23-story condominium
high-rise is a product of developer Fifield Cos. of Chicago.
The general contractor is San Mateo-based Webcor Builders.
Nadel said that prices will be "in the neighborhood of
$1,100 per sq. ft. for units averaging between $2 million
and $6 million."
The 290-ft.-tall structure will feature 327,000 sq. ft. of
residential space and about 115,000 sq. ft. of parking in
a 225-space garage. It will offer 80 lavish condos above a
three-level subterranean parking garage, a swimming pool and
3,000 sq., ft. "corner pocket park" for public use.
Units will range from 2,700 sq. ft. to 8,000 sq. ft. for a
penthouse. All will boast private elevators and floor-to-ceiling
glass on all windows and doors.
Nadel is also working on another project in Westwood, which
is currently in the entitlement stage. "Club View,"
a $50 million development of Fifield at Wilshire and Comstock
Street, will feature 32 luxury condo units in 21 floors. The
164,000-sq.-ft project will utilize three levels of subterranean
parking. Unit costs will average between about $1,000 to $1,200
per sq. ft. and range between 3,400 and 4,400 sq. ft. in size,
Nadel said.
Alan Pullman, principal and design director of Perkowitz
+ Ruth, a Long Beach-based architecture firm, said he also
has noticed a rush in west side activity. "The west side
is very constrained in terms of developable sites," Pullman
said. "But I still think it's a very active market for
both retail and residential."
Triangle' Set to Break Ground
His company is currently working on Melrose Triangle, a mixed-use,
2.4-acre project at Santa Monica Boulevard and Doheny Street
in West Hollywood. The seven-building complex will have 190
residential units and 50,000 sq. ft. of retail on top of an
underground parking garage with approximately 600 spaces.
The 250,000-sq.-ft. project is currently in the environment
impact report phase and is slated to break ground this summer.
It is being developed by Beverly Hills-based Charles Co.
Pullman said the project will bring new life to the area
and will be designed in a Mediterranean style with heavy use
of earth-tone colors.
"The housing market for high-rise and mid-rise multifamily
projects is being driven by a shortage of supply, a growing
population and the economy being on an upswing," said
Chip McCorkle, director of project development with Altadena-based
Charles Pankow Builders Ltd. "These factors combined
with low interest rates are making for-sale housing (condominiums)
attractive to the development community."
McCorkle, whose company currently has about $160 million
worth of construction projects underway or on the drawing
board on the west side-including the $10 million mixed-use
Metlox Block project in Manhattan Beach-added that this market
will stay active for the next "three to five years"
or until interest rates substantially increase.
He also sees another side to the dynamic growth.
"The downside to all this construction activity is twofold,"
McCorkle said. "First, material costs are on the rise
[and] China's recent building boom has increased the price
of steel and cement. The other issue here in Southern California
is the high volume of work in several market sectors, stretching
the subcontractor community thin."
Listed below are links to additional
stories included in the Los Angeles/Long Beach Market Report:
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