16-unit apartment complex rises in East Hollywood

In East Hollywood, Los Angeles-based real estate firm Urbanworks is building out its first ground-up development at 4575 Santa Monica Boulevard.

The project, which replaced an automobile repair garage, will consist of a five-story building containing 16 apartments atop parking for 10 vehicles. Plans call for a mix of studio, one-, and two-bedroom units.

Entitlements for the project rely on Transit Oriented Communities incentives to permit a larger structure than allowed by zoning rules. In exchange, two of the apartments are to be set aside as deed-restricted affordable housing at the extremely low-income level.

IwamotoScott Architecture designed the contemporary low-rise structure, which would incorporate a rear-facing terrace deck and two courtyards.

"The building's form is designed to establish a dialogue with both the immediate East Hollywood context and the larger context of Los Angeles," reads a narrative from the firm's website. "The facade plays with a tension between flatness and depth, deploying a system of staggered and slightly stepped plaster facade modules to create windows as gaps between them."

The project site sits one block east of the Vermont/Santa Monica subway station, where Little Tokyo Service Center recently broke ground on a larger mixed-use project that will feature affordable and permanent supportive housing above ground-floor commercial uses.

• East Hollywood (Urbanize LA)