Echo Park apartment project, long delayed, shows signs of life

Dromy International Investment has turned its attention back to the proposed 62-unit complex

2217 West Sunset Boulevard in Echo Park
2217 West Sunset Boulevard in Echo Park

Dromy International Investment has been trying to build an apartment complex in Echo Park for the last decade.

With the economy having long since rebounded and with Echo Park development now surging, the Santa Monica firm is once again turning its attention to the property at 2217 W. Sunset Boulevard.

Dromy has requested the city verify the project’s tier status under the Transit-Oriented Communities program. The city measure awards incentives to projects located near mass transit and whose developers set aside a portion of the units as affordable. Dromy has not yet applied for that bonus, but wants to verify its tier level, from 1 to 4. The higher the tier, the more residential units the city would allow to be built. The Sunset Boulevard property appears to qualify for either a Tier 3 or 4. The property is near numerous bus lines.

In the first 10 months of the TOC program  — from September to July — developers filed for more than 1,000 affordable units.

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Dromy last planned a 62-unit project there two years ago.

The latest request suggests Dromy plans to either develop the property or sell it.

Dromy purchased the 0.35-acre lot for less than $1 million in 2009, and soon filed for a 64-unit project with 9,600 square feet of commercial space there.

The city approved it amid local opposition over traffic concerns, but Dromy didn’t move on it for another seven years. In 2016, it refiled for the 62-unit project with 10,000 square feet of retail space. Representatives for the family firm could not be reached for comment.