Crenshaw Line-adjacent project in Leimert Park gets $29m construction loan

After securing a $29-million construction loan from Parkview Financial, Greenepointe Development is ready to break ground on a mixed-use apartment complex near the Crenshaw/LAX Line in Leimert Park.

The project site at 4242 Crenshaw Boulevard, currently developed with a car wash and an auto repair shop, is slated for redevelopment with a five-story edifice featuring 124 apartments and 6,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space.  Plans also call for 60 parking spaces in a street-level garage.

The apartments at 4242 Crenshaw will come in a mix of studio, one-, and two-bedroom floor plans, each featuring in-unit washer/dryer sets, stainless steel appliances, and either a balcony or a patio.  In exchange for density bonus incentives permitting a larger structure than otherwise allowed under local zoning rules, 14 of the apartments will be reserved as deed-restricted affordable housing at the very low-income level.

 “This is Parkview’s third L.A.-area loan with experienced developer, Greenpointe Development,” said Parkview Financial founder and chief executive officer Paul Rahimian. “This project will help satisfy a local demand for area housing for both single-person households and families at lower rents compared to other pricier nearby areas.”

“We triangulated value from the nearby developments at high interest submarkets such as West Adams and Jefferson Park as well as the Sofi Stadium area to get comfortable that 4242 Crenshaw was going to increase in value in the future," said Marty Friedemann of Parkview Financial in a news release.  "The submarket rents are currently much lower than that of the average for Los Angeles, but that is because there has been so little development. When new development does occur, demand is high. In many ways, it is the high rents in the rest of Los Angeles that are driving demand into these often-neglected submarkets.”

Architect Stanley Saitowitz is designing 4242 Crenshaw, which is divided into seven blocks that are differentiated by red and white coloring.  Plans call for a large amenity deck spanning across the building's roof level.

Completion of the apartment complex is expected in October 2022.

The proposed apartment complex in the latest in recent a string of multifamily developments surrounding under-construction Metro rail stops at Leimert Park and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.  These include a modular 111-unit apartment building that opened in 2019 on an adjoining site at 4252 Crenshaw Boulevard, and a proposed mixed-use development at the corner of Crenshaw and Stocker Street.

• 4242 Crenshaw Boulevard (Urbanize LA)