City OKs Conversion of Getty Oil Office Tower Into Apartments, Shops
The city has approved a building permit to convert the 22-story former Getty Oil Co. headquarters building into apartments and shops, giving the go-ahead to the tallest project yet in an “adaptive reuse” program started in 1999 to promote housing development.
The approval was announced Monday by the office of Mayor James K. Hahn, who said in a statement that the project “will bring vitality and economic stimulus” to the Koreatown/mid-Wilshire district, which he said “has seen a dramatic turnaround” in recent years.
The high-rise, completed in 1963 by oil tycoon J. Paul Getty, has been mostly vacant for the last decade, making it a candidate for the adaptive reuse program run by the mayor’s office to provide land-use incentives and permit streamlining to promote the conversion of empty or underused office buildings to residential uses.
Since its inception, the program has resulted in 6,500 housing units in various stages of development, mostly in the downtown area.
The latest project is for a 340,000-square-foot building on the southwest corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Western Avenue.
Development firm Upside Investments is planning to spend $25 million to convert the Getty Oil office tower into 260 live-work apartment units, with the first two floors planned for 30,000 square feet of retail space.
To help make the project work, the Mayor’s Office of Economic Development led efforts to find design solutions so that the building would meet earthquake and fire safety standards, said Hamid Behdad, director of the adaptive reuse program.
“The Getty redevelopment marks our commitment to creating housing and revitalizing Los Angeles neighborhoods, keeping people, jobs and revenues within the city limits,” Hahn said.
