Cypress Equity doubles down — and up — on Santa Monica housing count

Cypress Equity Investments has proposed doubling the size of a second proposed apartment complex on Wilshire Boulevard in Santa Monica.

The Brentwood-based developer has filed new plans to build 140 apartments at 1902 Wilshire Boulevard, Urbanize Los Angeles reported. They would replace a one-story shop.

Revised plans call for an eight-story complex with ground-level shops and underground parking for 197 cars. The upgrade includes 14 affordable units for very low-income households.

Cypress had initially planned to build a five-story building with 71 units, with 11 affordable apartments to be located inside a development next door at 1215 19th Street.

The gray apartment building, designed by Mid-City-based Patrick Tighe Architecture, would be clad in stucco and metal panels, with inset balconies, according to a rendering.

The new plans by Cypress Equity follows a similar revision proposed two weeks ago for the developer’s 2501 Wilshire Boulevard, which would become an eight-story complex with 170 apartments instead of 71.

Cypress Equity, run by Michael Sorochinsky, is developing more than 1,000 units in the city of Santa Monica. At 1527 Lincoln Boulevard, it recently upsized an apartment project to 210 units from an original 114-unit plan. 

The revisions take advantage of state-required changes to the beach city’s zoning rules, according to Urbanize.

Cypress Equity is not the only firm trying to add to Santa Monica’s housing stock. New York-based Tishman Speyer is building 620 units across eight parcels in the city. 

And a few developers, including Neil Shekhter’s WS Communities, have tried pushing through projects using builder’s remedy — a legal penalty that allows developers to bypass zoning entirely if cities fail to meet a deadline for a state-approved housing plan. 

Westwood-based WS Communities settled with the City of Santa Monica in May. 

The developer agreed to pull most of its builder’s remedy applications in exchange for expedited processing and additional incentives on potential new projects that align with the city’s updated and more pro-density zoning code.

— Dana Bartholomew

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