New For-Sale Housing Heads to Hollywood

LOS ANGELES—A joint venture between Metro Investments and P. Joseph Development is building a boutique home community in Hollywood under the city's small lot ordinance. Named Fountain + Gower after its location, the property will have 11 for-sale detached homes. The Hollywood submarket is undergoing a massive revitalization driven largely by creative office mixed-use development, and as a result, there has been an increase in housing demand.

“New construction homes are in demand as Hollywood undergoes a major revival and transforms into a truly walkable and community-oriented neighborhood. There is no other small lot community on the market like Fountain + Gower, in such close proximity to all that Hollywood offers,” Joe Reichling, Partner at Bryant | Reichling, an affiliate of Sotheby International Realty, tells GlobeSt.com. “To access the benefits of such an urban community, you typically would need to live in a condo. This comes with the costs of a monthly Homeowners' Association dues. Since Fountain + Gower is a collection of single-family homes, you do not have HOA Dues. The relative costs of living in this new construction community are much less, and on the whole, more affordable, which means we see buyers prefer to live in small lot communities instead of condo buildings.” Reichling is the listing agent for the property, along with Boni Bryant and Patrick Moya.

This style of homes has been missing in the Hollywood market, and offers the best of owning and living in a single-family home with the live-work-play lifestyle of an urban setting. The project, though, wouldn't be possible without the small-lot ordinance. “Under the small lot ordinance, developers are able to build high-density single family communities on urban infill parcels of land,” explains Reichling. “Instead of tearing down an old bungalow and building another home in its place, for example, the small lot ordinance allows multiple homes to be built so that more families have the opportunity to live in prime neighborhoods like Hollywood. The small lot ordinance allows for more homes to be built on a smaller footprint of land, and alleviate in part the lack of inventory we find in the urban centers of the city. The combination of individual direct-entry garages, private roof top decks, and a low maintenance fee offer a unique and rare option for buyers.”

The 11 homes will appeal to environmentally minded young professionals, and feature sustainable flooring, energy efficient appliances, solar panel retrofitting on the roof and passive cooling. It will also have car-charging stations on site.

Residential development in Hollywood is certainly picking up. Several of the mixed-use office complexes are incorporating a housing component, including one from LaTerra Development and Gemdale USA.