A proposal to build a large apartment complex next door to Tom Bergin's Irish pub continues to wend its way through the Los Angeles city approval process.

View of new development and Tom Bergin's, looking east from FairfaxReed Architectural Group

The project, as detailed in an environmental study published last week by the Department of City Planning, calls for two existing apartment buildings at the southeast corner of 8th Street and Fairfax Avenue, making way for the construction of a new eight-story, 190,000-square-foot edifice containing 209 one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments above 2,653 square feet of ground-floor retail space and parking for 239 vehicles.

Tom Bergin's, a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument since 2019, will be retained in its current form.  The bar, which has changed owners multiple times since launching in the early 1930s, consists of approximately 3,829 square feet of space.

The developer of the apartment complex, Las Vegas-based Colliers International executive Christopher Clifford, is seeking approvals using Transit Oriented Communities housing incentives to permit reductions to on-site open space and setback requirements.  In exchange, 28 of the proposed apartments would be set aside as deed-restricted affordable housing at the extremely low-income level, partially replacing 40 market-rate units which would be demolished.

View looking southeast from 8th and FairfaxReed Architectural Group

Reed Architectural Group is designing the podium-type apartment complex, which is depicted in renderings with a as a contemporary mid-rise structure, which would incorporate amenities such as a fitness center, a recreation room, a pool, a spa, and a rooftop deck.  The new construction would be separated from its historic neighbor by a small street-level courtyard at the current site of the Tom Bergin's parking lot.

Pending approval, construction of the new apartment complex is expected to occur over a 37-month period, concluding sometime in 2024.

The development site, located just one block south of Museum Row and the under-construction Wilshire/Fairfax subway station, is among a handful of new housing projects in the works for the Mid-Wilshire community.

Tom Bergin's, viewed from Fairfax AvenueWikimedia Commons

A similar apartment complex project called Vinz on Fairfax opened in 2018 a block south at San Vicente Boulevard, and could be joined by another 120-unit development at southeast corner of Fairfax and Olympic Boulevard.

Clifford, who purchased the adjoining Fairfax Gardens apartments and the Tom Bergin's site for $19.6 million in 2018, has been setting the stage for the project for some time.  Last year, the Beverly Press reported that residents had already noticed that empty units in the two-building complex were going unfilled.  As of March 2020, the remaining occupants had banded together to form a tenants association to advocate for their interests.

800-840 S Fairfax AvenueGoogle Maps