Long Beach developer joins LA’s Westlake build party 

A developer has filed plans for a six-story apartment complex in Westlake, adding yet another residential project to a blue-collar Central L.A. neighborhood that has emerged as a multifamily hotspot.  

The project comes from Westland Real Estate Group, a family-owned development and management firm based in Long Beach. Westland’s multifamily portfolio includes 65 buildings in L.A. and Las Vegas that total more than 12,000 units, according to its website.  

The firm’s latest project, which was registered with the L.A. Planning Department on March 28, would entail a roughly 50,000-square-foot, six-story project with 79 units. Eight units would be reserved for affordable housing, in line with requirements of the city’s Transit Oriented Communities program, which offers density and other bonuses for projects located near public transit. 

The 0.4-acre site, which is currently used as a parking lot, has an assessed value of around $950,000, according to property records. It was transferred to a new entity in December along with nine other Southern California properties. 

The property is located on the 400 block of Westlake Avenue, a few blocks east of MacArthur Park and the Mexican Consulate. It’s a position in the heart of densely populated Westlake, a traditionally blue-collar Latino neighborhood that has lately seen plenty of new development projects, in part because of its location between Downtown L.A. and booming Koreatown. 

Earlier this month, one developer filed plans for a 30-unit project on nearby Park View Street, and last month Six Peak Capital, the New York firm, survived an appeal on its approvals for a 110-unit build. Other recent plans in the neighborhood include a 64-unit all-affordable complex and a 238-unit project that spans two separate buildings. Kurve on Wilshire, the flashy 23-story apartment complex from Koreatown giant Jamison Properties, also opened in the neighborhood last August.