A local developer has started its transformation of a 1960s office building in West Hollywood into apartments.

The 10-story edifice, located near Cedars-Sinai Medical Center at 8899 Beverly Boulevard, will be turned into 76 residential units - including 15 apartments for low-income households.  Townscape Partners, which received entitlements for the project in 2015, is also building nine townhomes on a former parking lot located immediately north of the building on Rosewood Avenue.

Seattle-based architecture firm Olson Kundig is designing the adaptive reuse project, which is converting a Richard Door-man designed structure originally known as the International Design Center.  Plans call for adding a new penthouse level to the mid-rise structure, as well as retaining existing some pedestrian-oriented commercial space.

A construction timeline has not been announced.

The project's path was cleared in 2016, when a Los Angeles Superior Court Judge rejected an appeal the West Hollywood Residents Association that sought to overturn its approvals.  In obtaining development rights, Townscape agreed to contribute $2.2 million to fund streetscape improvements in the surrounding area and provide $1.1 million for the construction of a pocket park on Beverly Boulevard.

The project's developer, Townscape, is best known as the company behind plans for a Frank Gehry-designed mixed-use complex at 8150 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood.  That proposed development also cleared a legal hurdle recently when a Superior Court Judge declined to block demolition of a small bank building which currently occupies a portion of the project site.