Thomas Safran lands $54M grant to build Panorama City apartments

Thomas Safran & Associates has received a $54.3 million grant from the City of Los Angeles to build a 102-unit affordable housing complex in Panorama City.

The Los Angeles City Council awarded the funds to the Brentwood-based developer to build the four-story complex at 8130-8146 North Van Nuys Boulevard, Urbanize Los Angeles reported.

The money for the development known as Vista Terrace includes $40.1 million in tax-exempt bonds and $14.2 million in taxable funds.

Plans for the $80.8 million project south of Titus Street include 102 studio, one- and two-bedroom affordable apartments for tenants earning less than 50 percent of the area median income level. Underground parking would serve 55 cars.

The developer blamed the $793,000 per-unit cost on inflation, asbestos and lead paint abatement, the cost of land and a required ventilation system.

The complex, designed by the L.A. office of Michigan-based HED, features what appear to be a dozen putty and gray stucco columns, topped by charcoal eaves, interspersed with brown sections with inset balconies, according to renderings. It includes a courtyard, recreation and community rooms.

The project had once been planned by a consortium of developers, who filed a proposal in 2019 for a 104-unit, mixed-use complex with 24 affordable apartments and nearly 1,800 square feet of shops and restaurants.

Vista Terrace would be built across from the 13-story Panorama Tower, which stood empty for decades after the 1994 Northridge earthquake until it was redeveloped by Izek Shomof in 2020  into a 194-unit residential highrise. He then filed plans to build 200 more apartments atop its parking lot.

Up the street at 8389 North Van Nuys Boulevard, Primestor has filed plans to redevelop the 17-acre Panorama Mall with 4.5 million square feet of homes, offices, hotel suites, shops and restaurants. The project would include 3,544 homes, a 120-room hotel and a 2,300-seat movie theater.

A state affordable housing grant of $825 million this month included nearly $200 million for 27 projects in Los Angeles County. It contained nearly $5 million for an 87-unit affordable complex by Thomas Safran & Associates next to Watts Station at 103rd Street and Graham Avenue in Watts.

— Dana Bartholomew