Construction Starts on Downtown Residential and Retail Complex

Architects image of new complex on Washington
Architects image of new complex on Washington

Construction has kicked off on a $63-million apartment and shopping complex on the border of Los Angeles and Culver City as developers move to capitalize on the new Expo Line.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the six-story project is being built by Santa Monica-based apartment landlord NMS Properties. The development at 9901 Washington Blvd. in Los Angeles, across the street from Culver City, will be known as NMS@Culver City. It will house 131 units over restaurants and shops.

The complex is across from the Kirk Douglas Theatre and Sony Pictures Plaza office building.

GlobeStreet.com quoted Jim Andersen, president of NMS Properties as saying “We find the redevelopment program and streetscape emerging along Washington Boulevard in Culver City extremely attractive and believe our project will further enhance the streetscape renaissance occurring there.” Anderson added that he believes the project will have great appeal to the employees of companies such as Sony Pictures Enterainment and the Brotman Medical Center, which are adjacent to the site. “In the pre-construction period, we studied the project’s submarket area and concluded there was a great demand for modern apartments with high-end finishes.”

He also noted that renters will find the building’s design unlike others in the area. “The excitement of the building is reflected most predominantly in the balcony geometries,” said Wade Killefere, design principal of Killefere Flammang Architect, in a prepared statement. Features include balconies clad by alternating metal panels, a deeply recessed band on the 5th- and 6th-story mezzanines and a large, landscaped tenant-oriented courtyard that will separate the building into two distinct masses connected by walkways overlooking the courtyard.

Killefer said the 39,000-square-foot site was formerly occupied by a movie theater with three levels of below-grade parking, which will serve the new building after it is seismically upgraded.

The apartments are scheduled to open in spring 2014. The site was formerly occupied by Culver Plaza, a movie theater and retail center with three levels of below-grade parking. The underground garage will be seismically upgraded and reused with the new complex.

Formerley know a th the “painted building” the upper floors of Culver Plaza were surrounded by a colorful 7,000-square-foot mural called “Syncopation” by artist Ed Massey that came to be a neighborhood landmark after it was installed in 2004. The mural was removed before demolition and moved to Westside Neighborhood School, an independent elementary school in the Playa Vista area of Los Angeles.

Hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of real estate development linked to the Expo Line are in the pipeline in Culver City. NMS and other developers are also targeting future station sites in Santa Monica and other stops along the rail line for construction of new mixed-use residential projects.

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