Apartment tower unwrapped at Wilshire and La Jolla

In Beverly Grove, the exterior of a mixed-use apartment tower from prolific Santa Monica-based developer WS Communities is nearly complete.

The project, which replaced a surface parking lot at the northwest corner of Wilshire Boulevard and La Jolla Avenue, consists of a 16-story high-rise that will feature 112 apartments above a parking garage and 6,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space at completion.

Designed by Steinberg Hart the approximately 193-foot-tall building has a convex-shaped footprint in the form of a camera lens, giving the building a creating a distinct profile and opening up view corridors from the residential units on the upper floors. Renderings show that the tower will also include amenity decks at the roof level and above its parking podium.

The tower at 6401 Wilshire Boulevard originated from an entitlement application filed with the City of Los Angeles more than 15 years ago. After the project went unbuilt, developer UDR, Inc. purchased the land in 2015 and sold the entitled site to WS Communities for $38 million in 2019, according to city records.  

Although it has previously developed projects in the City of Los Angeles, WS Communities is best known for a vast collection of mixed-use projects in its hometown of Santa Monica.

• 6401 Wilshire Boulevard (Urbanize LA)