Onni Group’s Arts District tower project clears key hurdle

Onni Group’s 347-unit mixed-use tower project in the Arts District has cleared a hurdle in its path to a final approval.

The Los Angeles City Planning Commission denied an appeal regarding the 36-story project’s environmental review, sending the project proposal to the City Council for consideration, according to Urbanize.

The Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters, a trade union, appealed the development last month, arguing Onni failed to comply with housing and labor requirements under Measure JJJ. The measure mandates developers who receive a requested change in zoning pay prevailing wages to their workers, and set aside the affordable housing component. The union also said the environmental report failed to consider the environmental impacts of construction.

City Planning Commission staff found both arguments lacking, and the union dropped its opposition to the project prior to the hearing.

Onni has owned the development parcels at 2143 E. Violet Street for about five years and initially proposed a project with 500 residential units. The firm scrapped that plan and proposed a new layout last summer with the reduced unit count. It includes 57 units set aside as affordable.

In addition to the residential tower, the project includes an eight-story building with 187,000 square feet of office space, 22,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space and 828 parking spots. The plan includes keeping five existing buildings on the site, totaling about 57,000 square feet. Those buildings would be a mix of uses.

Meanwhile, Onni is nearing final approval for its larger Times Mirror Square project in Downtown. That project has faced considerable opposition over the years. If built, it would total about 1.5 million square feet with 1,130 residential units.

[Urbanize] — Dennis Lynch