Fairfield Residential plans luxury complex at 60-year-old diner

362-unit building would wrap around Dinah’s Family Restaurant on Culver City border

Fairfield CEO Greg Pinkalla and renderings of the development plans (Carrier Johnson + Culture, Fairfield Residential)
Fairfield CEO Greg Pinkalla and renderings of the development plans (Carrier Johnson + Culture, Fairfield Residential)

Dinah’s Family Restaurant is a 60-year-old diner on the Culver City border, known for its fried chicken.

Now, Fairfield Residential wants to build a 362-unit luxury apartment complex on the property, according to plans filed with the city. Renderings show the building would wrap around the 7,000-square-foot, family-owned Westchester eatery.

The development would include 126 studios, 110 one-bedroom units and 126 two-bedroom units. Plans show 41 apartments will be classified as affordable.

Fairfield, the San Diego-based apartment giant, would keep the restaurant intact but demolish a single-story strip mall and another industrial property. Fairfield would also include retail space for another restaurant in the building, along with a garage with 520 vehicle spaces, plans show. The restaurant is located at 6521 S. Sepulveda Boulevard.

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Current property owners are listed as Arthur Quinn, Alan and Steven Cohen, and Lorin Flyer, records show. Fairfield did not respond to multiple requests for comment. A message left at the diner was not immediately returned.

Fairfield operates two apartment complexes in Los Angeles — in Woodland Hills and Northridge — along with six more in Orange County and one in Riverside County, according to its website. Nationwide, the company manages 43,000 apartment units in 18 states and says it has developed or acquired 962 multifamily communities. In 2019, California State Teachers’ Retirement System acquired a majority stake in Fairfield from Brookfield Asset Management.

Fairfield’s construction plans come as apartment rents in L.A. are starting to rise after having dipped from the pandemic. But they are still down. Median monthly rent in L.A. County in May was $1,776, nearly 3 percent below what it was in February 2020.