San Francisco-based developer Carmel Partners has taken the next step in its plan to redevelop an Arts District warehouse with a mix of apartments, retail, and office space.

When first announced in 2016, the project at 520 Mateo Street was envisioned as a 13-story building that would feature 600 residential units with retail and commercial office space.  An alternative studied as part of 520 Mateo's environmental impact report also consider a reduced residential alternative which would create a taller 35-story building, featuring 475 live/work units, a 650-car garage, 105,000 square feet of office space, and 20,000 square feet of ground-level retail and restaurant space. Both alternatives would provide a combination of studio, one-, and two-bedroom units - of which 11 percent would be set aside as affordable housing.

The proposed tower, which would rise 370 feet above ground level, is being designed by Portland-based Works Progress Architecture.  Renderings portray a glass-and-steel tower soaring above a mid-rise podium, which would wrap above-grade parking levels with habitable spaces.

Rios Clementi Hale Studios is designing the project's open spaces, which include a proposed paseo cutting east-to-west between Mateo Street and Santa Fe Avenue, as well as large pool amenity decks at the podium and roof levels.

The Planning Department's staff report recommends approval for the project by the L.A. City Planning Commission at its meeting next week.  The project has received support letters from the Historic Cultural Neighborhood Council and the Los Angeles River Artists and Business Association.

A construction timeline for the project has previously been estimated at 31 months, with completion expected as early as 2020.

While certainly taller than any existing building in the Arts District, Carmel's 520 Mateo is hardly the only high-rise tower planned for the neighborhood.  Proposed developments at 6th and Alameda and 670 Mesquit include towers as tall as 58 stories.

Since entering the Downtown arena with the 8th & Grand apartments, Carmel has become an active investor in large-scale developments throughout Los Angeles, with a portfolio that includes the 1,200-unit Cumulus development at La Cienega/Jefferson Station and the 595-unit Linea complex at Expo/Bundy Station.