Across the street from LaFayette Park in Westlake, a surface parking lot next to the historic Bryson Building has been cleared for the construction of a new supportive housing complex.
Los Angeles Housing Partnership, which owns the Bryson, has secured building permits for a new six-story, 64-unit apartment complex at 2721 Wilshire Boulevard. According to a notice distributed last year by the City of Los Angeles, all of the new housing will be priced at levels considered affordable to individuals and families earning between 30 and 50 percent of the area median income. Additionally, more than half of the apartments will be set aside for formerly homeless persons.
The new Bryson development will include a mix of studio and one-bedroom dwellings, ranging from 313 to 638 square feet in size. Plans also call for on-site laundry facility, case management offices, a fitness center, a rooftop deck, a common room, and parking for 20 vehicles.
2721 Wilshire BoulevardGoogle Maps
According to the Los Angeles Conservancy, The Bryson - which opened in January 1913 - was billed as the "largest and finest apartment house on the Pacific Coast," by the Los Angeles Times.
"The Bryson's ninety-six apartments featured mahogany woodwork, tile floors in the bath and kitchen, and a built-in cedar chest in each dressing room. Living rooms doubled as bedrooms, with hideaway wall beds in each unit," reads the Conservancy's description of the Bryson's decor.
While the building opened at a time when Westlake was a wealthy residential enclave on the outskirts of the Downtown core, the passing of the decades saw the neighborhood gradually evolve into densely-populated hub for Central American immigrants. The Bryson also changed with the neighboring, eventually converting to an 81-unit income-restricted apartment building in 2001.
Los Angeles Housing Partnership, the owner of the building, has also worked on a ground-up affordable housing complex near the Westlake/MacArthur Park Metro station in collaboration with developer McCormack Baron Salazar.
The new affordable housing complex is the latest in a series of new developments surrounding LaFayette Park, including the towering Kurve on Wilshire apartments now under construction at 2900 Wilshire Boulevard, and a more modest bridge housing facility on a triangular property that was previously used as tennis courts.
Looking for affordable housing? Visit lahousing.lacity.org/aahr
