Mixed-use project to get underway this month in downtown L.A.
Construction will begin this month on One Santa Fe, a long-anticipated $160-million apartment, office and retail development in the arts district of downtown Los Angeles.
The 790,000-square-foot complex will rise on four acres of land on Santa Fe Avenue between 1st and 4th streets that was leased from the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
Plans by Los Angeles architect Michael Maltzan call for 438 apartments and 78,620 square feet of office and retail space, along with nearly 50,000 square feet of public outdoor space. When completed in 2014, it is to have an outdoor terrace, a grocery store, art gallery, a theater and a garden.
Twenty percent of the units will be priced for low-income renters.
Tenants are expected to include young professionals and students, said developer Bill McGregor of the McGregor Co.
The six-story project is across the street from the Southern California Institute of Architecture, where about 500 students attend classes in a century-old rail freight depot that is a quarter of a mile long and about 37 feet wide.
One Santa Fe was conceived in the mid-2000s but was delayed by the economic downturn and challenges connected to its complex financing structure, McGregor said.
Canyon-Johnson Urban Fund said Monday that it would provide an undisclosed amount of equity financing that would enable the project to go forward.
“It’s great to invest in our home base of Los Angeles, and to take a project as important as One Santa Fe to the next level,” said Earvin “Magic” Johnson, the former Los Angeles Lakers star who is a partner in the fund.
McGregor Co.’s partners in the development are Polis Builders Ltd. and Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group.
The residential portion is being financed by tax-exempt bonds issued by the California Housing Finance Agency and guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, a loan from the Los Angeles Housing Department and low-income housing tax credit equity provided by Goldman Sachs.
The commercial component is being financed by a loan from the city; new markets tax credit allocations from Clearinghouse CDFI, Genesis LA Economic Growth Corp. and the Los Angeles Development Fund; and new markets tax credit equity by Goldman Sachs.
“The One Santa Fe development is a prime example of a partnership that supports positive economic development in Los Angeles,” said Los Angeles City Councilwoman Jan Perry, who represents the area.
