The Los Angeles City Council's Planning and Land Use Management Committee has voted to approve a proposed mixed-use apartment building in Westlake, rejecting an appeal which sought to block the project's construction.

In March, project applicant Albert Ganjian received approvals to raze a tire shop at 719 S. Hoover Street to make way for the construction of a six-story building containing 38 apartments above roughly 1,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space and a 19-car garage.  A total of four apartments would be set aside as deed-restricted affordable housing, making the project eligible for Transit Oriented Communities incentives.

Approved plans indicate Los Angeles-based AFCO Design is serving as the project's architect.  Renderings depict the project as a contemporary low-rise building clad in stucco.

The project appellant, the Coalition for an Equitable Westlake/MacArthur Park, identifies itself as a group of long-term residents of the surrounding neighborhood.  In a letter submitted by attorney Claudia Medina, the group argued that the project should have been deemed ineligible for a Class 32 Categorical Exemption to the California Environmental Quality Act, due to the cumulative impacts of the proposed apartment building and 20 other developments planned within a one-mile radius.

While the vote by the Committee upholds existing approvals, construction of the proposed apartment complex is contingent on the issuance of permits by the Department of Building and Safety.

Similar developments are planned for a property on the opposite side of Hoover Street and for a vacant lot on 7th Street.