Tudor-style Windsor apartments in Koreatown to be renovated
A 1920s-era apartment building in Koreatown has been acquired by a Los Angeles investor who plans to renovate the brick Tudor Revival-style complex near Wilshire Boulevard.
The six-story Windsor Apartments at 3198 West 7th St. and an adjacent parking lot zoned for development sold for $10.75 million to a limited liability corporation, according to investment banking firm George Smith Partners.
The Windsor was built in 1926 at 7th and Catalina streets as an upscale apartment hotel in what was then suburban Los Angeles.
“It’s a distinctive example of the great apartment buildings that characterized the neighborhood at the time — luxury living in a burgeoning area between Westlake [now MacArthur] Park and the Ambassador Hotel,” said Linda Dishman, executive director of the Los Angeles Conservancy.
A Times story about renovation work at the Windsor in 1973 said the apartments were within easy walking distance of the Ambassador, and the I. Magnin’s, Bullock’s Wilshire and Saks Fifth Avenue department stores – all of which closed years ago.
The neighborhood fell out of favor in the latter decades of the 20th century but has experienced a jump in prosperity in recent years as new businesses and residents, many of them of Korean descent, have moved to the area.
The former Windsor restaurant in the apartment building is now a Korean restaurant called the Prince that has retained the Windsor’s formal red leather and low-light decor. It has been used for filming the television show “Mad Men” and other period pieces.
“The historic distinction of the Windsor building adds great value to the asset, while the development space that was included with the sale provides potential for future expansion,” said Shahin Yazdi, a vice president at George Smith Partners.
Selling the property was La Senda Properties. The head of the corporation that bought it is Alireza Ghafouri, according to real estate data provider CoStar Group.
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