(Save the date: RealShare Apartments comes to the Westin Bonaventure, Los Angeles, October 24.)

LOS ANGELES-Those who follow @GlobeStcom on Twitter and @GlobeStLIVE may have seen a post teasing the announcement, but GlobeSt.com has learned that a $105-million, mixed-use project at the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and La Brea Avenue in the mid-city section of Los Angeles has broken ground. Three years in pre-construction and scheduled for completion in April 2014, the project is being developed by San Francisco-based BRE Properties.

The six-story, 800,000-square-foot project includes 480 residential units atop 44,000 square feet of retail space and two and one-half levels of subterranean parking with 997 spaces. Targeting LEED Silver certification, Wilshire at La Brea took the 2011 Gold Nugget Grand Award for “Best On-The-Boards,” presented by PCBC industry trade show sponsored by the California Building Industry Association.

The project features two pools, state-of-the-art fitness facilities and themed facades on street-facing sides of the structure, which includes 500 feet of frontage on busy La Brea Avenue and 270 feet on Wilshire.

According to a prepared statement from Bernards, a builder working with BRE Properties, this is among the first residential developments in the region to get under way since the housing bust began four years ago. “This is a high-density project, directly in the middle of one of the city’s hottest areas,” says Steve Pellegren, a VP for preconstruction services at the firm.

This is one of the first projects to take advantage of the city’s new planning policy that allows for replacement of obsolete structures to encourage higher density in urban infill areas, according to architect Thomas Cox, a principal at Los Angeles-based TCA architects, who designed the project. The 3.38-acre site, which comprises an entire city block on the Los Angeles Miracle Mile, was previous occupied by a one-story abandoned bank that was later converted to a Korean church.

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Natalie Dolce

Natalie Dolce, editor-in-chief of GlobeSt.com and GlobeSt. Real Estate Forum, is responsible for working with editorial staff, freelancers and senior management to help plan the overarching vision that encompasses GlobeSt.com, including short-term and long-term goals for the website, how content integrates through the company’s other product lines and the overall quality of content. Previously she served as national executive editor and editor of the West Coast region for GlobeSt.com and Real Estate Forum, and was responsible for coverage of news and information pertaining to that vital real estate region. Prior to moving out to the Southern California office, she was Northeast bureau chief, covering New York City for GlobeSt.com. Her background includes a stint at InStyle Magazine, and as managing editor with New York Press, an alternative weekly New York City paper. In her career, she has also covered a variety of beats for M magazine, Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel, FashionLedge.com, and Co-Ed magazine. Dolce has also freelanced for a number of publications, including MSNBC.com and Museums New York magazine.