Developers plan five-story apartment building in place of single-family home in Westwood

A development team wants to knock down a single family home in Westwood and build a five-story apartment building in its place.

The project plans were filed in late April and hit Los Angeles City Planning records this week.

It’s being developed in part by LuMar Corporation, an L.A. firm that’s built various condo buildings and homes on the Westside; Labyrinth Design Studio, a Westside-based architecture and development firm, is designing the project.

The property is located at 10756 West Wilkins Avenue, in a residential area of Westwood. The three-bedroom, 2,100 square-foot-home that sits on the lot was built in 1936 and last modified in 1978, according to records.

The home was involved in a three-parcel sale in 2019, and shortly after was picked up by Karim Makarehchi and Tahereh Korani, a husband and wife, for $1.6 million. Makarehchi and Korani then transferred ownership to two LLCs in March; Makarehchi and Babak Nehoray, the president of LuMar, are both listed as property owners on the project application. The project applicant is Pouya Payan, the owner of Labyrinth.

The 11,300 square-foot build will include seven units plus one ADU, according to the project application, and one level of underground parking. Part of the fifth floor will be used as an open-air deck.

Renderings show a modern, sleek-looking building with a white and gray facade and curved balconies. The project is seeking exemptions under L.A.’s Transit Oriented Communities program, which provides certain density and other bonuses to builds located near public transit.

Westwood has long ranked among greater L.A.’s more expensive neighborhoods: Early this year, a market report found it had a median home sale price of $3.4 million, slightly higher than the median for Santa Monica but less than half the median price in nearby Beverly Hills.