“Completion of this project will greatly enhance an area that has endured the remnants of a broken development for years,” said Brett Albrecht, managing director for Kraemer, in a prepared statement. “We look forward to enhancing the neighborhood and fulfilling our mission for creating value in real estate with our partners.”

Albrecht tells GlobeSt.com that Highland Park was attractive to his firm because it was a traditional infill, older community with older product types, and it hadn't seen any new product in roughly three to five years. “It's one of the more challenging projects we've done in that it's a broken development. The City of Los Angeles will allow us to complete the four homes that are standing inventory with minor modifications to code compliance. The remaining lots are subject to revision following the update of codes that bring new standards in place. We think we can have a more efficient layout, although in general the lots are somewhat constrained already—we're only going to fit the pad in any location—but we plan to bring a more trusted design and easier to layout to the homes themselves.”

Albrecht added that the opportunity to help a community out by completing a project that had been shelved since 2009 and was an eyesore to the area was also attractive. “To come in and assist a neighborhood by taking a project that had been mothballed to completion—that element was appealing to us. Also, we're working with some key team members on which we rely: South Coast Communities and Land Advisor's Organization. Everything came together perfectly. We're excited to work in Highland Park and actively looking for opportunities in and around that submarket.”

As GlobeSt.com previously reported, L.A.'s mayoral candidates are recognizing that affordable housing is a hot-button issue, and they demonstrated their commitment to improving this sector at the Mayoral Candidates Forum on Affordable Housing held Downtown recently. At the event—hosted by Housing For a Stronger Los Angeles, a broad-based coalition of housing-industry professionals—the three leading candidates in the L.A. mayoral race each vowed strong support for affordable housing and underscored the need to build more units for low-income and middle-income households in the city.

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