A strip mall near the intersection of 7th Street and Vermont Avenue in Koreatown could make way for multifamily housing, according to plans recently submitted to the City of Los Angeles.

The proposed development, slated for the northeast corner of Vermont and Leeward Avenues, calls for razing the existing building and surface parking lot to make way for the construction of a seven-story edifice containing 80 apartments above 1,457 square feet of ground-floor retail space and parking for 70 vehicles.  Plans call for a mix of studio, three-, four-, and five-bedroom floor plans - including eight income-restricted affordable units.

The inclusion of on-site affordable housing would make the project eligible for Transit Oriented Communities incentives, allowing for smaller setbacks and less open space than would otherwise be required.

OfficeUntitled is designing the project, which would consist of five levels of wood-frame construction above a concrete podium.  Architectural plans show a contemporary low-rise structure featuring amenity decks at the 2nd, 7th, and roof levels.

City records list the project applicant as an entity affiliated with Los Angeles-based Elk Development.  The company recently initiated entitlements for a similar mixed-use building in Hollywood.

The Koreatown site, located two blocks south of the Wilshire/Vermont Metro station, joins a handful of new developments now taking shape on Vermont Avenue. 

To the north at 6th Street, Los Angeles County and Trammell Crow Company are now in construction at a 20-story office tower that will become the new headquarters of the Department of Mental Health. 

Several blocks south at James M. Wood Boulevard, Jamison Services is now building a six-story, 193-unit apartment building with ground-floor retail space.