The Los Angeles City Council has signed off on plans from Jade Enterprises to redevelop a nearly two-acre property next to the Arts District's Soho Warehouse with a combination of housing, offices, and retail space.

Entitlements for the proposed development at 2110 Bay Street, including a zone change and a general plan amendment, were approved without discussion as part of the Council's consent calendar.  The proposed development would include:

  • 110 live/work apartments (including 11 for low-income renters);
  • 113,000 square feet of office space;
  • 51,000 square feet of commercial uses; and 
  • parking for 479 vehicles.

Studio One Eleven is designing the complex, which would add two new buildings - the largest of which would stand 11 stories in height - while preserving an existing shed.  Pedestrian walkways would cut through the property, connecting Bay Street with Sacramento Street one block south.

The Council also voted to reject an appeal submitted by development firm Blue Arch Investments, which argued that Jade Enterprises should be required to conduct a supplemental environmental study based on the possibility that the existing buildings may be a bat habitat.  Additionally, the appellant contended that proposed complex would deplete the City's stock of industrial land, and alleged connections between the project and the ongoing City Hall corruption scandal.

The Bay Street appeal is not the first dispute between the two parties.  The roles of appellant and project applicant were reversed at a City Council meeting in March 2020, when Jade Enterprises appealed Blue Arch's proposed Hyatt Centric hotel development at 1140 S. Broadway.  The hotel was originally designed without a rear setback, which would be required to accommodate a future widening of an alley that runs adjacent to the property.  Jade Enterprises owns a string of buildings on the opposite side of the alley, which the company intends to redevelop into a high-rise building.

The Arts District project is surrounding by several industrial tracts where other development firms - including Onni Group, Tishman Speyer, and SRG Properties - are also planning large campus-style projects.

Other developments from Jade Enterprises include a 154-unit apartment complex now under construction near the intersection of Pico Boulevard and Olive Street.