With entitlements in hand, the builders are planning a 1.2-million-sf complex including residential, office and retail space, according to Cliff Goldstein, a senior partner at the J.H. Snyder Co., the project's developer. It will consist of 240 lofts, 560 apartments, 250,000-sf to 300,000-sf of office space and 200,000-sf of retail, Goldstein says.

The company also intends to provide space for the Valley Community Clinic to relocate into the project, he adds. The clinic offers medical care to low-income patients. "It is the opportunity for us to create a true town center," Goldstein tells GlobeSt.com. "It is an urban location in an area that has been seeking redevelopment for more than 10 years."

The complex will be located nearby to one of the North Hollywood subway stops, which will allow residents to take advantage of the city's mass transit system. Goldstein believes others will follow suit with similar projects, as the idea of building around mass transit centers begins to take hold. "Los Angeles can't just continue to spread on a horizontal basis because our infrastructure won't allow it," he says. "As we come into infill areas, we have to change our way of thinking."