Looks like another underutilized Koreatown parcel is set to bite the dust, as the neighborhood continues with its development renaissance. According to a case filing with the Department of City Planning, the property at the southeast corner of Western Avenue and San Marino Street is the site of a proposed mixed-use development. Plans call for 79 apartment units above ground floor retail, served by a three-level subterranean parking garage. The project is located just across the street from Koreatown Plaza, one of the neighborhood's largest shopping malls. The case filing fails to specify the height of the proposed building, but we can most likely expect something of the wood-framed/low-rise variety (the kind of development that everyone seems to hate in Downtown). Located just a short jog down Western from the current Purple Line terminus, Metro Rail and its various destinations are at the tip of your fingers. As the blocks around Wilshire/Vermont Station have recently gone on a development binge, perhaps momentum is beginning to pick up near Wilshire/Western. With a boundless supply of surface parking lots and strip malls to work with, LA's most densely populated neighborhood still has plenty of room to grow.
- Case Information Summary Sheet (LA City Planning)