Transit-Linked Projects Take Off

Amcal Diversified, an affiliate of Amcal Multi-Housing Inc., has acquired a site at 306-360 N. Avenue 26 in Lincoln Heights for a three-phase development at a Gold Line station that will include 223 family and senior apartments, 165 for-sale condominiums, and 16,000 sf of commercial space. In North Hollywood, JSM Construction of Santa Monica has started work on its NoHo Tower, a 191-unit residential and retail project at the MTA's Lankershim Boulevard and Cumpston Street station.

The two projects are the latest examples of what developers have been forecasting for some time: a wave of commercial and residential developments around the transit stations on L.A.'s developing rail system. Properties near the stations generate much buyer interest, says Matt Artukovich of the Commerce office of Lee & Associates, who brokered the sale of the parcel where Amcal will build its development. Artukovich tells GlobeSt.com that he expects strong buyer interest in another listing he has coming up for sale, a 30,000-sf parcel at the French Avenue/Southwest Museum Station. The 30,000-sf property is being rezoned by the City of Los Angeles, Artukovich says, as the Amcal site was. He tells GlobeSt.com that the Amcal site, at the intersection of the 5 and 110 freeways, was in escrow for a year during the rezoning. Amcal paid nearly $7.3 million for the property, which is at 306-360 W. Avenue 26 and was formerly the home of a Bassett Furniture manufacturing plant. Artukovich and David Brandt of Lee represented the seller, E. B. Malone Co. of Virginia, with the buyer represented by Mike Smith and Jim Kinetz of Lee.

According to Percival Vaz, president of Amcal, the company is exploring other opportunities to bring housing to the area near its transit station development. Amcal will partner with non-profit corporations W.O.R.K.S. and Livable Places to create the for-sale condominiums and the commercial space portions of the project.

At the North Hollywood development, where construction began recently, developer JSM's $43 million NoHo Tower at Lankershim Boulevard and Cumpston Street will rise across from the MTA station and will be a block away from a Rapid Transit bus terminal. The 15-story, 191-unit building will include 17,000 sf of ground floor retail space. Craig D. Jones, JSM president, notes that the firm already has two other mixed-use multi-family projects under construction in the area. In the NoHo project, JSM's equity partner is Prudential Real Estate Investors and its primary lender is Pacific Life Insurance Co. The NoHo Tower, designed by DE Architects, is part of the 750-acre North Hollywood Redevelopment District.