One of the San Fernando Valley's countless auto repair shops is about to make way for a new mixed-use development.  The WaterMark, a residential-retail complex from the Los Angeles-based Metric Holdings Corporation, is slated for an approximately 2.5-acre site at the crossing of Reseda Boulevard and the Los Angeles River.  The low-rise project, designed by the Albert Group Architects, will contain 254 one, two and three-bedroom apartment units above slightly less than 7,700 square feet of ground-level commercial space.

Plans call for a six-story structure along Reseda Boulevard which would gradually step down in height as as it approaches the single-family zone to the west.  A glass clad tower highlights the WaterMark's design, inviting cyclists and joggers to enjoy the neighborhood-serving stores and eateries which will stretch north from Kittridge Street.  The low-rise project, which is to be located less than one mile from an Orange Line Station, will offer parking accommodations for up to 436 automobiles and 287 bicycles.

Like many new river-adjacent developments, Metric Holdings' project reverses the long-standing trend of shunning the maligned waterway.  Instead, the WaterMark will embrace an eventually revitalized LA river through common green space and bicycle parking on its southern edge.  The green space will wrap around to the eastern side of the property, where it shall provide additional landscaping as a buffer between the apartments and nearby single-family homes.  Further open space is provided via private balconies and upper-level terraces.