A property owner is retooling plans for a mixed-use development at the intersection of Pico Boulevard and Federal Avenue in Sawtelle using the citywide housing incentives.

In 2024, Reza Ghasem of Paddock Group, LLC filed an application with the Planning Department seeking approvals to build a four-story, 27-unit apartment building with ground-floor retail at 11601 W. Pico Boulevard. That proposal, which has since been withdrawn, relied on Transit Oriented Communities incentives, and would have required that three of the proposed apartments would be set aside for rent as extremely low-income affordable housing.

South elevation facing PicoHRD Arch Inc.

A new application filed this month with the Planning Department relies on more robust development bonuses offered by the citywide housing incentive program's opportunity corridors. Plans now call for a larger seven-story edifice featuring 38 studio, one-, and two-bedroom dwellings above approximately 2,500 square feet of ground-floor retail space and a 15-car garage. The larger project would also call for a larger affordable set-aside - in this case, five extremely low-income units.

HRD Arch remains the architect for the proposed development, which is shown as a larger version of the 2024 application.

11601 W. Pico BoulevardGoogle Maps

The project site sits north across the intersection of Pico Boulevard and Federal Avenue from a similar mixed-use building completed more than two years ago at 11950 W. Pico Boulevard. It also sits a short distance to the west of a site at Pico and Gateway Boulevard, where Onni Group has plans for a larger 278-unit apartment complex near the E Line's Expo/Sepulveda Station.

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