Vancouver-based developers Townline and Forme Development have filed plans to construct a mixed-use high-rise development at 550 Shatto Place in Koreatown.
The project, called Soul, would incorporate a mix of market-rate and affordable apartments, in addition to office space and ground-floor commercial uses one block from Metro's Wilshire/Vermont Station. The property was acquired in partnership with Urban Offerings, a Los Angeles-based real estate firm.
Plans call for the construction of a 32-story tower featuring 256 residential units, replacing an existing surface parking lot. An existing church at the corner of 6th Street and Shatto - built in phases starting in the mid-1930s - will be preserved an incorporated into the development, with a new courtyard area at its main entrance intended to provide publicly accessible green space for the surrounding neighborhood.
City records describe the project as featuring 29 apartments priced at the extremely-low-income affordability level, as well as 2,507 square feet of office space and 12,800 square feet of restaurant space. Parking would be provided on four basement levels.
Chris Dikeakos Architects is designing the tower, which was described by Arnold Chan of Forme Development as featuring a "pixelated" look.
Construction of Soul is currently anticipated to begin in 2019.
The project is being filed through the City of Los Angeles' Transit Oriented Communities program, which offers relief from certain zoning provisions for projects that create new affordable housing. It is the first high-rise development filed through the program.
The project site sits just east of the trio of L.A. County-owned properties that a team led by Trammell Crow COmpany intends to redevelop with a mix of government offices, mixed-income housing, and pedestrian-oriented retail space. The multi-phase development, known as the Vermont Corridor, is expected to begin work later this year.
Soul is the second Los Angeles-area project for Townline and Forme, following the 27-story Harmony development planned near Chinatown Station.
Koreatown Archive (Urbanize LA)
