After more than eight months of construction, rebar cages have now sprouted above street level at 2225 Sunset Boulevard, site of a new multifamily Cypress Equity Investments (CEI) residential complex in Echo Park.

The project, which sits a short distance west of the intersection of Sunset and Alvarado Street, will eventually consist of a seven-story building featuring 176  studio, one-, two-, three-, four-, and five-bedroom apartments above parking for 203 vehicles.

View looking northeast from Sunset BoulevardOttinger Architects

CEI entitled 2225 Sunset using Transit Oriented Communities incentives to allow a taller, denser development than would normally be permitted by zoning rules. In exchange, the developer is required to set aside 18 of the proposed apartments as deed-restricted affordable housing at the extremely low-income level. 

Ottinger Architects is designing the project, which spans an amorphous site that also fronts on Mohawk and Elsinore Streets. Renderings portray the finished product as a contemporary structure clad in metal panels and wood siding, scaling down in height to a four-story profile on Elsinore Street to the north. Although no ground-floor retail space is planned, street-fronting live/work units are slated for Sunset Boulevard.

The design of 2225 Sunset, according to the Ottinger Architects website, was inspired by the site's hillside location.

View from Elsinore StreetOttinger Architects

"The floor plates act as extrusions out of and up from the topography," reads a design narrative.  "Each floor plate is expressed as a continuous band of balconies or cornices that wrap around the building and the varied angles of the floors create movement and liveliness."

According to the website of Integrare Group, the project's general contractor, plans also call for amenities such as courtyard and a rooftop deck.

Completion of 2225 Sunset was anticipated to occur over a roughly 28-month period, according to an environmental study adopted by the City of Los Angeles.

Construction viewed from across Sunset BoulevardMichael Hayes

The proposed development joins a handful of similar multifamily residential buildings proposed near Sunset and Alvarado, including a mixed-use structure slated to rise at the site of Taix Restaurant. That project recently received a final sign off from the City Council.

While CEI may be based in Los Angeles, the bulk of the company's activity is concentrated in the City of Santa Monica, where it has more than a half-dozen projects planned or under construction.