Four new proposed buildings will add 124 affordable apartments and 92 market-rate apartments to downtown and Ocean Park.
Three buildings restricted for low-income households will rise at 2120 Lincoln Blvd., 1514 7th St. and 1238 7th St. A market-rate building will be constructed at 1425 5th St., with its required affordable units included in the 1514 7th St. project. The buildings on 5th and 7th Streets will include stores or restaurants on their ground floors.
Prolific local developer WS Communities, a spinoff of NMS Properties, is behind both affordable buildings on 7th Street and the market-rate development on 5th Street. Community Corporation of Santa Monica (CCSM), an affordable housing provider, is developing the Lincoln Boulevard project.
The largest affordable development at 1514 7th St. across the street from the downtown Vons will include 50 apartments in eight stories, as well as 963 square feet of commercial space on its ground floor. The gray and white building will contain 33 one-bedrooms, 10 two-bedrooms and seven three-bedrooms, with balconies and a roof deck. A subterranean level will house 89 bicycle parking spaces but no parking for cars.
The building will replace a vacant lot and sit between a three-story and a four-story building.
A few blocks to the north, a six-story, gray and white building with 37 apartments and 1,527 square feet of commercial space on its ground floor will be constructed at 1238 7th St. across the street from the Proper Hotel, replacing a one-story building occupied by Swim with Heart swimming school. The building will also include bicycle parking but not car parking.
“The upper stories facing 7th Street appear as alternating staggered frames incorporating balconies that break the building into two unequal portions and lead the eye upward,” associate planner Michael Rocque wrote in a report to the Architectural Review Board, which reviewed the four projects Monday.
The Lincoln Boulevard project, dubbed Pacific Link, will replace a gas station with a four-story building containing 37 apartments and bicycle parking. Its facade will be clad in a sculptural shell of cement, plaster and steel in different shades of gray with orange and blue recesses for windows.
CCSM opened another affordable building on Lincoln last December. The Arroyo provides 64 apartments for low-income individuals and families.
The market-rate building on 5th Street will be eight stories tall and contain 92 apartments: 60 one-bedrooms, 18 two-bedrooms and 14 three-bedrooms. Its 4,512 square feet of ground-floor commercial space is designed for one large restaurant.
The infill development will replace a nail salon and tailor in a one-story office building constructed in 1953 with a light blue highrise with balconies and a roof deck.
madeleine@smdp.com
