Rendering vs. Reality: L.A. County Department of Mental Health's new Koreatown HQ

In Koreatown, construction is complete for the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health's new headquarters.

The $300-million complex, located near the northeast corner of 6th Street and Vermont Avenue, is a 20-story building which contains 468,000 square feet of offices above 1,900 parking stalls.  At street-level, the high-rise building also includes a peer resource center and walk-in mental health services clinic.

Gensler designed the 295-foot-tall building, which features a glass exterior on its upper floors and metal screening wrapping its above-grade parking levels.  Slanted metal fins are arranged across the building facade.

The Department of Mental Health's new headquarters is the centerpiece of the larger Vermont Corridor project, which will redevelop multiple County owned properties located north of the Wilshire/Vermont subway station.

Trammell Crow Company, the private developer contracted to build the office tower for the County, also has the rights to convert the former Department of Mental Health's existing headquarters into housing through its subsidiary High Street Residential.  The 12-story building, located immediately south of the new tower at Vermont's intersection with 6th Street, is would contain 172 apartments and ground-floor retail space under approved plans.

Another component of the Vermont Corridor project is taking shape across the street, where developers Meta Housing Corp. and Western Community Housing are in the midst of construction on a  $51.4-million senior affordable housing complex with a YMCA community center.

• Vermont Corridor (Urbanize LA)