Investor shifts to development, eyes apartments, recording studio in South LA

Investor Oliver Omidvar is entering the ground-up residential development space with plans for a $50 million, 120-unit apartment complex in Downtown Los Angeles, the Real Deal has learned.

Omidvar, who also runs a real estate lending company called Hope & Co. Business Capital, is taking on a different role for an assemblage at at 2710-2804 West Florence Avenue. He plans to build a 150,000-square-foot apartment complex with commercial space for a music studio on the ground floor.

Omidvar closed on the site on December 31. He paid $2.5 million for the package, which includes three stand-alone, single-tenant buildings along with a multi-tenant property with six units. The structures sit on a lot that is 35,000 square feet in size.

“The area has a lot of promise, Omidvar said, noting the site’s proximity to SoFi Stadium and the Forum, both in neighboring Inglewood.

One of the tenants at the existing property is RZN Recording Studio, which has a location at 2724 West Florence Avenue. Omidvar said that he is negotiating for the studio to relocate to the 25,000-square-foot commercial space planned for the new building.

The project will be in the pipeline for a relatively long period even with the plans currently in hand. The leases for the properties last for another five years. Omidvar said that he plans to start construction only when the leases expire. Before then, the project will be going through the permitting process.

Omidvar’s real estate portfolio mostly consists of value-add projects. He said that the West Florence Avenue would be his first of its scale. He also owns the Los Angeles outpost of Miami restaurant Barton G at 861 North La Cienega Boulevard and the location of Crosspointe Church at 1300 North Kellogg Drive in Anaheim.