Concrete podium peaks at 38-story Koreatown apartment tower

Seven months after our last update, the concrete podium of a new apartment tower from Holland Partner Group is largely complete in Koreatown, and work is now progressing on the habitable floors of the building.

The project, located one block southwest of Wilshire/Vermont Station at 696 S. New Hampshire Avenue, will consist of a 38-story building containing 375 residential units.

Designed by MVE + Partners, the project will consist of a contemporary glass-and-steel building seated atop an eight-story parking garage.  The roof levels of both the parking podium and the tower are to be activated with landscaped amenity decks for use by residents of the apartments.

The tower was originally approved as one component of a larger mixed-use project by Harridge Development Group, which would span the full east side of New Hampshire Avenue between 7th Street and Wilshire Boulevard.  The proposed development is also expected to replace an adjoining parking lot with a smaller apartment building, while also bringing a 160-room hotel to the interior of the 1930s Wilshire Galleria - originally built as an I. Magnin department store.

Other projects now in the pipeline in the surrounding neighborhood include a proposed mixed-use apartment building one block east at Vermont and Leeward Avenues, as well new housing to be built as a second phase of Los Angeles County's $300-million Vermont Corridor project.

Holland Partner Group's project is the latest in a series of new apartment towers in Koreatown, joining the 25-story Kurve on Wilshire development now wrapping up construction near Lafayette Park.

Vancouver, Washington-based Holland Partner Group is currently developing multifamily housing in neighborhood across the Los Angeles area, including proposed developments in Echo Park, San Pedro, and Mid-Wilshire.  The company recently broke ground on a 185-unit apartment complex in Hollywood.

• 696 S New Hampshire Avenue (Urbanize LA)