Building Around Transit Hubs

Construction will begin today on a $100-million apartment and retail complex atop the subway station at Wilshire Boulevard and Vermont Avenue in Los Angeles, part of an effort by regional planners to create dense development around transportation hubs.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority owns large sites near rail and bus stations that it wants filled with residents and businesses inclined to use public transit, said Greg Angelo, the MTA’s manager of new business development.

The Wilshire-Vermont project, being built by Los Angeles developer Urban Partners, will include 449 apartments in two seven-story buildings, a mix of restaurants and stores and a fitness center.

The MTA plans other developments near transit stations, including:

* A block of condominiums, stores and a hotel at Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street.

* A 199-unit apartment complex and stores at the MacArthur Park station on the Red Line.

* A 347-unit apartment and retail project at the Gold Line’s Del Mar station in Pasadena. It is scheduled to be completed next year, and also is being built by Urban Partners.

* A large mixed-use project at Wilshire and Western Avenue.

“There are not a whole lot of open pastures in L.A. County you can build upon,” said John Hrovat, Urban Partners project manager at Wilshire-Vermont. “Most development will involve some dense urban infill and politically challenging projects.”

Urban Partners faces some unusual construction challenges in building on top of the Wilshire-Vermont subway station that opened in 1996, Hrovat said. For instance, water lines, power lines and ventilation shafts must be realigned while the two-tiered station continues to operate.

The developer already has prepared temporary pedestrian pathways and elevator access to the subway and will begin work today on a three-level underground garage with 660 spaces intended to serve residents and retail customers.

The buildings should be completed in summer 2006, Hrovat said. Most of the apartments will be priced between $1,400 and $2,400 a month. Twenty percent of the units will be set aside for low-income tenants who earn less than 50% of the county’s median income. By current standards, a household income of $20,850 to $48,800 would qualify for the subsidized units, depending on the size of the family.

In addition to helping ease congestion, developments like Wilshire-Vermont also help offset the cost of transit operations, Angelo said. Urban Partners will pay the MTA $450,000 a year for a ground lease.

A middle school for 800 students also is planned for the one-block site and would be developed separately by the Los Angeles Unified School District. Construction of the $55-million school should begin in summer 2005 and be completed by 2007, a district spokeswoman said.

Urban Partners also is building the 13-story, $190-million Caltrans district headquarters in downtown Los Angeles that is expected to be completed in August.