Jamison files another plan for Koreatown project

This year Jamison, the family-run firm that grew into a major commercial landlord decades ago and more recently emerged as one of Southern California’s preeminent multifamily builders, has been on a tear, breaking ground on one 230-unit complex and filing plans for projects that include a seven-story building and an ambitious conversion of the Pierce National Life Building.

On Wednesday the company filed more plans, this time for a seven-story apartment building at 1041-1047 South Crenshaw Boulevard, just outside the southwest corner of Koreatown.

“Koreatown’s really hot right now,” Jaime Lee, who leads the firm’s leasing division and serves as the face of the company, said earlier this year. “And it’s because it can take the density. The Metro line is right there, billions of those scooters laying around … but also it’s just very central.”

The firm’s newest proposal calls for 60 total units, including six reserved for extremely low income tenants, as well as 39 parking spaces. The total project will be 44,000 square feet. Under L.A.’s Transit Oriented Communities program, which grants developers certain zoning exemptions for projects located near public transportation hubs, the plans also include side yard reductions and a 25 percent open space reduction.

Jamison bought the 0.2-acre site as part of a $4 million multiple parcel deal in the fall of 2020, according to property records. The site is currently an undeveloped lot.

The project will add to the growing density of western Koreatown in particular: In October Jamison filed plans for one 125-unit project on the neighborhood’s busy Western Avenue, across from the street from another new Jamison apartment complex. Earlier this year, another developer, Bando Dela, filed plans for a seven-story complex nearby on West Olympic Boulevard.