Six-story project joins apartment parade in Westlake

Ravivo Kaofman has filed plans for a six-story, 30-unit apartment in the central L.A. neighborhood of Westlake, another sign of the neighborhood’s growing popularity among multifamily developers. 

The project is located in the 500 block of Park View Street, a couple blocks east of MacArthur Park and the Mexican consulate. Westlake, wedged between Downtown L.A. and booming Koreatown, is a densely populated neighborhood that has long been home to a concentration of of Latino residents. But thanks to its central location and relatively cheap real estate, it’s also seeing an uptick in multifamily development. 

Last year one developer proposed an eight-story project that would replace an auto shop; other recent plans have included a 64-unit all-affordable complex and a 238-unit project that spans two separate buildings. 

The neighborhood is likely to see more, and bigger proposals, as Koreatown continues rising, with something of a marketing blend between the two neighborhoods. For example, one of the splashiest new residential projects to hit Central L.A. in recent years, Jamison’s Kurve on Wilshire, brands its location as “an iconic K-town address” but is actually located in Westlake. 

The Park View Street project seeks a density allowance under L.A.’s Transit Oriented Communities program, which permits certain exemptions for projects located near public transit, and would replace a four-unit apartment complex that was built in 1904 and remodeled in 1970, according to property records. Plans call for a 20,000-square-foot apartment building that would have 27 market-rate units and three extremely low income units, with one level of underground parking and one level of above ground parking. Renderings show a modern-looking, mostly white facade with gray and yellow accents and end-facing balconies. 

Kaofman appears to like the neighborhood. In 2020, the New York-based developer, who runs a firm called USAhomes Rental Properties, filed plans for one 58-unit project on nearby James M. Wood Boulevard, and in 2021 he filed plans for another Westlake project that would knock down two century-old buildings on San Marino Street for a 55-unit complex. 

An entity tied to the developer bought the roughly 0.2-acre Park View Street site for $1.4 million in 2019.