A presentation to the Santa Monica Architectural Review Board has unveiled a new look for a proposed senior affordable housing development near the Expo Line.
The project, which is being developed by WS Communities, would rise from a vacant property at 711 Colorado Avenue which is temporarily serving as a construction staging area. Plans call for a seven-story building featuring 57 apartments - including 56 deed restricted senior affordable units - with 1,848 square feet of ground-floor retail space. The development would include a mix of studio, one-, and two-bedroom dwellings, but no automobile parking.
Wise and Healthy Aging is slated to provide on-site services for residents, according to a staff report, with dedicated offices on the building's second floor.
KFA Architecture’s design for 711 Colorado proposes a mid-rise structure similar in scale to adjacent projects that are planned or already under construction. Following feedback from a prior presentation to the Architectural Review Board, the location of the building's elevator shaft has been moved away from the street, and landscaping is placed more prominently throughout the property.
A staff report to the Architectural Review Board is complimentary of the changes made thus far, and recommends that WS Communities should work to further enhance the building's ground plane with features such as seating and public art.
WS Communities is developing 711 Colorado to satisfy the off-site affordable housing requirements of two of its market-rate developments - 1313 6th Street and 1430 Lincoln Boulevard.
WS Communities also owns adjacent properties at Colorado's intersections with Lincoln Boulevard and 7th Street, where a 100-unit apartment complex is now under construction and another multifamily residential development is proposed.
Interested in finding affordable housing? Visit housing.lacity.org
