In June 2019, the Los Angeles City Council voted to designate Tom Bergin's Irish pub as a Historic-Cultural Landmark.  Six months later, the iconic bar could be incorporated into a large multifamily residential complex.

Yesterday, an entitlement application was submitted to the Department of City Planning for the construction of 209 apartments at 800-840 S. Fairfax Avenue - a site that includes Tom Bergin's, its adjacent parking lot, and a pair of two-story buildings containing 40 residential units.

The project, which calls for Transit Oriented Communities affordable housing incentives, would provide 28 units of extremely low-income housing in exchange for a density bonus, reduced parking, increase floor area, and relief from setback, open space, and transitional height requirements.

City records list the project applicant as Christopher Clifford.  Clifford is the manager of two entities - 830 Fairfax Owner, LLC and 840 Fairfax Owner, LLC - which paid a combined sum of $19.6 million to purchase the apartment complex and Tom Bergin's site within the past year.

Tom Bergin's, which dates to the mid-1930s, was the subject of a contentious preservation battle earlier this year, when the Miracle Mile Residents Association nominated the property for Historic-Cultural Monument status over the objections of the restaurant's prior owner - and even a grandson of its eponymous founder.

The City Council ultimately voted to endorse a compromise solution, in which the building was granted monument status, but its adjoining parking lot was not granted the same distinction, thus leaving it eligible for sale and redevelopment.

The project's inclusion of a landmarked site will grant the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission the opportunity to weigh in on plans prior to approval and construction.  The Tom Bergin's restaurant is poised to reopen in the near future under new ownership, reports Eater.

The proposed development at 800-840 S. Fairfax Avenue enjoys Transit Oriented Communities incentives due to its proximity to the subway station now under construction one block north at Fairfax and Wilshire Boulevard.  That transit hub will be located next-door to the LACMA campus and the new Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.

The site also sits a short distance north of San Vicente Boulevard, where a similar project called Vinz on Fairfax opened last year.