Across the street from Sony Pictures Studios, a shuttered auto repair garage is being demolished, signaling the start of work on a mixed-use development on the Palms-Culver City border.

The project, located at the northeast corner of Washington Boulevard and Motor Avenue, calls for the construction of a new seven-story building featuring 139 studio, one-, and two-bedroom apartments - with 14 deed-restricted extremely low-income units - above approximately 2,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space and parking for 140 vehicles.

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The contemporary podium-type building is being designed by Kevin Tsai Architecture, a Downtown-based firm.  Renderings depict a contemporary low-rise structure with a U-shaped footprint which wraps around a courtyard.  Other open spaces would be provided through a series of setbacks and terrace decks.

City records list the applicant and developer behind the project as Washington Motor, LP, an affiliate of the Hong Kong-based real estate development firm Guo Rui Group.  The company previously built a smaller mixed-use apartment complex in Santa Monica.

Construction of the Washington-Motor development is expected to occur a period of 24 months, according to architect Kevin Tsai.

The project is the latest in a series of mixed-use and multifamily residential developments to rise in the section of the Palms community which wraps Downtown Culver City and Sony Pictures Studios.

Directly across Motor Avenue, California Landmark Group recently submitted plans to the City of Los Angeles to redevelop a thrift store with a 112-unit apartment building, and is already in the midst of construction on a 79-unit complex one block north on Venice Boulevard.

A quarter-mile east on Washington Boulevard, Beverly Hills-based Mapleton Properties is planning a multi-phase project with more than 200 apartments.

Los Angeles County Assessor records indicate that Guo Rui Group acquired the Washington-Motor site in 2018 from Bastion Development Group for approximately $13.6 million.  Bastion had previously entitled the site for a slightly smaller development which also called for the construction of multifamily housing and ground-floor commercial uses.