176-unit development set for construction at 2225 Sunset in Echo Park

In Echo Park, Los Angeles-based real estate investment firm Cypress Equity Investments (CEI) has received city clearances for the construction of a new multifamily residential complex near the busy intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Alvarado Street.

In November, the Department of Building and Safety issued construction permits to CEI for a new project at 2225 Sunset Boulevard. The new seven-story building, which received City Planning Commission sign offs in May 2021, will feature 176  studio, one-, two-, three-, four-, and five-bedroom apartments on an amorphous site which also fronts on Mohawk and Elsinore Streets. Plans also call for 203 parking spaces in a podium and basement garage.

Project entitlements for 2225 Sunset include Transit Oriented Communities incentives, permitting a building with greater height and density than normally allowed by zoning rules. In exchange, CEI would set aside 18 of the proposed apartments as deed-restricted affordable housing at the extremely low-income level. 

Ottinger Architects is designing the project, which is depicted in renderings with a contemporary exterior consisting of metal panels and wood siding. The building would pare down in height to a four-story profile on Elsinore Street to the north. While the project would not incorporate ground-floor retail space, plans do call for project  street-fronting live/work units along Sunset Boulevard.

Images posted to the website of Integrare Group, the project's general contractor, also show amenities such as a courtyard and a rooftop deck

The design of 2225 Sunset, according to the Ottinger Architects website, was inspired by the site's hillside location.

"The floor plates act as extrusions out of and up from the topography," reads a design narrative.  "Each floor plate is expressed as a continuous band of balconies or cornices that wrap around the building and the varied angles of the floors create movement and liveliness."

Construction of 2225 Sunset is expected to occur over an approximately 28-month period, according to the findings of an environmental study adopted by the Los Angeles City Council.

The proposed development joins a handful of similar multifamily residential buildings proposed near Sunset and Alvarado, including a mixed-use structure slated to rise at the site of Taix Restaurant. That project recently received a final sign off from the City Council.

While CEI may be based in Los Angeles, the bulk of the company's activity is concentrated in the City of Santa Monica, where it has more than a half-dozen projects planned or under construction.

• 2225 Sunset Boulevard (Urbanize LA)