Cypress Equity Investments (CEI) has cleared a key hurdle in its bid to construct a new multifamily residential development in Echo Park.

View looking northeast from Sunset BoulevardOttinger Architects

At its meeting last week, the Los Angeles City Planning Commission voted to certify a sustainable communities environmental assessment for the Brentwood-based firm's proposed seven-story, 176-unit development at 2225 Sunset Boulevard.  The podium-type building, which would have an amorphous footprint with frontage on Mohawk and Elsinore Streets, calls for a mix of studio, one-, two-, three-, four-, and five-bedroom apartments above 203 podium and basement parking stalls.

In exchange for Transit Oriented Communities incentives permitting greater height and density than permitted by the property's base zoning, CEI would set aside 18 of the proposed apartments as deed-restricted affordable housing at the extremely low-income level.  The project would also incorporate street-fronting live/work units along Sunset, in lieu of providing ground-floor commercial uses.

Ottinger Architects is designing the project, which would have a contemporary exterior with finishes including corrugated metal panels and wood siding.  The building would present as a taller seven-story structure facing Sunset, but scale down to a smaller four-story structure along Elsinore Street to the north.  Planned on-site amenities include a gym, a courtyard, and a rooftop deck.

View from Elsinore StreetOttinger Architects

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."

The project has undergone minor changes since first unveiled in late 2020, according to a staff report to the Planning Commission.  At a March 2020 hearing, a representative of the Echo Park Improvement Association stated the organization's support for the project, noting that street treatment had been altered in deference to adjoining historic buildings, and a proposed rooftop deck was relocated to avoid overlooking the adjoining neighborhood.

2225 Sunset BoulevardGoogle Street View

Upon issuance of building permits, construction of 2225 Sunset is expected to occur over an approximately 28-month period, according to the environmental study.  An exact timeline is not specified.

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.

Brentwood-based Cypress Equity Investments is developing a handful of similar multifamily residential buildings in Santa Monica, and recently submitted plans to the City of Los Angeles to construct affordable housing in the Pico-Union neighborhood.

2225 Sunset BoulevardGoogle Maps