Entitlement documents posted by the Wilshire Center Koreatown Neighborhood Council offer a first look at plans for an infill housing project among a block lined with stately pre-war apartment buildings.
Jamison Services, Inc., the applicant behind the project, submitted an application in January 2020 to redevelop a parking lot at 715 S. Mariposa Avenue with a seven-story, 44-unit apartment building. Plans call for a mix of studio and one-bedroom dwellings - including five extremely low-income affordable units - above semi-subterranean parking for 22 vehicles.
The design by DFH Architects is contemporary in style, which a narrow wood-frame structure rising above a concrete base. A representative of the firm indicates that the project team is consulting with the Los Angeles Conservancy and the City's Office of Historic Resources to modify the design to contextuatlize the building with its surroundings.
The development site, located on Mariposa between 7th and 8th Streets, would abut a series of stately apartment buildings which date to the 1920s and 1930s. The one-block stretch of Mariposa and a neighboring segment of Normandie Avenue collectively form the Normandie Mariposa Historic District.
New construction within the district, which is a popular filming location, has been contentious in the past. Jamison's plans to redevelop a parking lot on Normandie with a similar podium-type apartment building resulted in an appeal from the resident of a neighboring building, despite a redesign which attempted to make the new construction better relate to its surroundings.
