Mixed-use building proposed at 1439 W. Jefferson Boulevard

After designing dozens of mixed-use and multifamily residential buildings across Los Angeles County, Kevin Tsai Architecture will try its hand at development.

Through the entity KTSAI Investments, LLC, the firm recently submitted an application to the Los Angeles Department of City Planning seeking approvals to raze and redevelop its offices at 1439 W. Jefferson Boulevard in the Adams-Normandie neighborhood. The proposed project calls for the construction of a six-story edifice featuring 15 one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments with 450 square feet of ground-floor commercial space and no on-site parking.

Requested entitlements include density bonus incentives to waive certain zoning rules relating to building size and footprint. In exchange, two of the apartments are to be set aside for rent as affordable housing at the very low-income level.

The project, which Tsai says he is syndicating for his employees, calls for a building clad mostly in smooth black cement plaster, accented with a decorative brick wall along Jefferson Boulevard.

The proposed development would be the latest in a recent series of apartment buildings to rise west of the USC campus along Jefferson Boulevard, including affordable housing which would rise directly across the street and the 130-unit Jefferson Flats. The corridor also includes a former oil drilling facility which non-profit developers also hope to transform into affordable housing.

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• Adams-Normandie (Urbanize LA)