Affordable Developer Scoops Koreatown Parcel

LOS ANGELES—Affordable developer West Hollywood Community Housing Corp. has acquired a prime development site in Koreatown in an off-market transaction, GlobeSt.com has learned exclusively. The developer purchased the 1.76-acre site for $9.5 million and plans to develop a $65 million 186-unit affordable and senior housing complex.

Concord Real Estate Services recognized the potential for the site and approached the property owner to sell. "This is a burgeoning and up-and-coming area in a lot of ways, especially because of all of the things happening in Downtown Los Angeles. There has been a spin-over effect in some of the adjacent neighborhoods," Yoav Sarraf, managing director at Concord Real Estate Services, tells GlobeSt.com. "The property is over 80,000 square feet on a major street, and we felt that it was a great development opportunity. We felt that it wasn't being used at its highest and best use. We had a relationship with the West Hollywood Community Housing Corp., and they were looking for opportunities outside of West Hollywood, where they normally develop. We felt that they would be able to maximize that space."

There is currently a senior housing facility on the site that will be demolished. West Hollywood Community Housing has tapped PSL Architecture to build the two-phase project. The first phase will be the development of Westmore Linden, a 94,508-square-foot apartment complex for low-income seniors. The development will have 93 units, 85% of which will be one-bedroom apartments. The second phase will be the development of Elden Elms, a seven-story, 93-unit complex for low-income families. Construction on phase one will be completed in fall 2018. "Once this project is built, it is going to enhance and change the area dramatically," Keyvan Moradian, senior associate at Concord Real Estate Services, tells GlobeSt.com. "West Hollywood Community Housing Corp. builds the type of projects that have a design that enhances the surrounding neighborhood. For the working-class community, I think that it is really meaningful to have affordable housing."

There is a huge demand for affordable housing in the Koreatown market, especially because of the amount of luxury housing development there and in the nearby Downtown market. "There are a lot of market-rate apartment units going up in the market, and as a result, regular units being taken off that market," adds Sarraf. "The people that were living in those units now need new housing. So, these units will be absorbed quickly."