The following article was co-authored by Rina Yano, editor of the Sawtelle Japantown blog.  For more information on Westside real estate and Japanese food and culture, please visit www.SawtelleJapantown.com and follower her on Twitter @SawtelleJT.

CA Landmark Group (CLG), a Los Angeles-based real estate developer, has purchased the Westside Family YMCA at 1947 Sawtelle Boulevard with the intention of building a residential-retail complex on the site.  Plans filed with Department of City Planning call for a five-story structure featuring 73 residential units and 7,700 square feet of ground floor commercial space.  The YMCA will relocate to a new 60,000-square-foot facility near the University High School campus.

CLG’s mixed-use plan on Sawtelle is consistent with current zoning and will bring new rental housing, including below-market affordable units to West Los Angeles.  The company has more than 25 years of development experience on the Westside.  Since submitting plans to the city last year, CLG has been reached out to neighbors seeking feedback on the project through an ongoing series of monthly mixers.

The Sawtelle project is being designed by Rios Clementi Hale Studios with a contemporary architectural theme similar to buildings in modern day Tokyo.  Plans call for a plaza at the corner of Sawtelle and La Grange Avenue, flanked by cherry blossom trees.  The building's height profile will gradually pare down to a series of two-story townhomes as it approaches the adjacent single-family zone to the west.

Construction of the residential-retail complex is anticipated to begin in mid-2016, with delivery tentatively scheduled for one year afterwards.