Jamison Gets Green Light for Twin-Tower Project in L.A.

The Los Angeles City Council has approved a zone change that clears the way for Jamison Services to build twin apartment towers on a site occupied by a parking garage in the city’s Koreatown neighborhood.

Jamison is planning to raze the parking garage behind an office tower at 3600 Wilshire Boulevard and build a pair of 23-story buildings on the north side of 7th Street between Harvard Boulevard and Kingsley Drive.

The apartment towers will encompass 760 units above 6,359 SF of ground-floor retail and parking for nearly 1,300 vehicles, Urbanize LA reported. Perkins&Will is designing the project, with amenities to include rooftop pools and a fitness center.

Los Angeles-based Jamison, which according to Urbanize LA, is Koreatown’s largest property owner, has become a prolific developer of multifamily projects in the area along the Wilshire Boulevard Corridor.

Jamison recently completed construction on a two-tower project known as Opus that spans half a city block along the west side of Ardmore Avenue between Wilshire and 6th Street.

The Opus project at 3545 Wilshire includes a 22-story building and a 14-story space, encompassing a total of 428 apartment units, 10K SF of ground-floor commercial space and a parking garage for 850 vehicles. Amenities at Opus include rooftop decks, fitness centers, co-working spaces, a private screening room and an indoor golf range.

Jamison has more than a dozen proposed and under-construction ground-up projects in Koreatown. The twin-tower project approved this week is similar to the developer’s proposal for 3470 Wilshire Boulevard, where the company plans to replace another parking garage at the rear of an office tower with a pair of residential high-rise buildings.

Across the street from the project at the 3600 Wilshire site, Jamison is building a seven-story, 110-room hotel at 679 S. Harvard Boulevard.

Jamison also is active in office-to-residential conversions. Last year, the company filed plans to convert a 17-story, 144K SF office tower at 6380 Wilshire Boulevard into 210 apartments.

The adaptive reuse project, designed by Next Architecture of Long Beach, will retain the 60-year-old building’s current windows and glazing while adding a new rooftop penthouse. Proposed amenities include a yoga studio, golf simulator, sky lounge and rooftop swimming pool deck, Urbanize LA reported.

Koreatown, one of the most densely populated neighborhoods in Los Angeles, has been one of the most active areas in the city for multifamily development in recent years. The area is centrally located between downtown Los Angeles and the city’s west side, in proximity to subway stops and employment centers.

Recent projects have included Terrance Block, a 40-story tower encompassing 367 units; Hallasan, a Holland Partner Group tower with 375 apartments; and The Parks in L.A.; a 251-unit project from Charles Park & Associates.

As of September, the average rent for an apartment in Koreatown is $2,229 per month, according to RentCafe.