Shriners Hospital redevelopment moves ahead

Planning Commission approves plans to turn Westlake site into a 169,000 sf with clinic, offices, residences for seniors

Dr. Kyung Cho and rendering of the hospital renovation at 3160 W. Geneva Street (Varisco Design Build Group, Medicine.umich.edu)
Dr. Kyung Cho and rendering of the hospital renovation at 3160 W. Geneva Street (Varisco Design Build Group, Medicine.umich.edu)

A former Shriners Hospital in Westlake could soon be redeveloped into a 169,000-square-foot center with a clinic, medical offices and residences for seniors.

The Los Angeles City Planning Commission has approved Mitaa Group’s plan for the 71-year-old landmark at 3160 W. Geneva St., according to Urbanize Los Angeles.

The center would include 139,000 square feet of clinic and office space, plus 40 senior independent living units.

The Koreatown-based developer led by neurologist Dr. Kyung Cho bought the former hospital in 2017 for $24 million. It has since scrapped plans for a 132-unit assisted living facility.

The 2.25-acre property includes the original building constructed in 1951, and a 1980s expansion.

The new medical center would add 30,000 square feet of new construction while retaining an existing garage at the foot of the building that will feature 150 spaces and 39 bicycle slots.

The design for the adaptive re-use of Shriners Hospital was made by Varisco Design Build Group, based in Irvine. It will maintain its original red brick façade facing Geneva Street, while converting lower floors to medical space and upper levels into housing.

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Plans also call for the addition of a new rooftop deck facing south toward the Wilshire Corridor.

As a condition for a general plan amendment and a zone change needed for the project, the Mataa Group will reserve five of the new senior housing units for very low- and extremely low-income seniors.

Shriners Hospital, which occupied the space for over 50 years, moved to a $77-million outpatient facility in Pasadena.
Cho, through his firm Mitaa Group, owns a handful of commercial properties throughout L.A.

In 2016, he sold the famous Foreman & Clark Building in Downtown L.A. for $52 million to Bonnis Properties, a Canadian investment firm. The commercial landlord giant has moved forward with other multifamily projects in the Koreatown area.

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[Urbanize Los Angeles] – Dana Bartholomew