North Hollywood developer ditches rentals for condos

Perhaps sensing a market shift, Developer Leon Kaplan is changing things up at a North Hollywood residential project.

Kaplan filed paperwork with the City of Los Angeles to convert a 48-unit rental project under construction at 5560 N. Bonner Avenue over to condominiums. Kaplan received construction permits in April.

Kaplan consolidated three parcels on Bonner Avenue, a residential side street, for the project. He purchased them between 2014 and 2015 for a total of around $2.4 million, records show. He demolished two existing multifamily buildings on the properties last year.

Kaplan is also working on a 33 unit condo project a few blocks away on Cartwright Avenue.

Last year saw some notable development projects crop up the San Fernando Valley neighborhood.

Dariush Hosseini filed for a 98 unit project on Case Avenue in April. Summerland Partners Group followed with a 60-unit complex in May and Lili and Hamid Hamidi filed for a 40-unit mixed project von Magnolia Boulevard in August.

Data for the wider L.A. market from earlier this year shows that rent growth is slowing this year thanks to increased supply meant to meet feverish demand that sent rents shooting upward over the last five years or so. Rents were just 1.9 percent higher in May than they were a year earlier. Prices for homes in the San Fernando Valley, including condos, continue to rise.