Jamison prepares office-to-homes conversion in Westlake

Jamison Services aims to convert a 95,000-square-foot office building in Westlake into 141 apartments. 

The prolific Koreatown-based developer has filed plans to for an adaptive reuse conversion at 520 South La Fayette Park Place, Urbanize Los Angeles reported.

Plans for the office-to-homes conversion include 141 studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments atop a parking garage for nearly 200 cars.

As the project conforms to zoning rules and doesn’t require incentives, Jamison has proposed no affordable housing. The office building was built in 1971 and renovated 20 years ago and is a half mile from Metro’s Wilshire/Vermont station, according to Loopnet.

The adaptive reuse project, designed by Koreatown-based Corbel Architects, wouldn’t make any changes to the white exterior and rows of three-window panels.

The proposed apartment complex would require a Zoning Administrator’s approval to permit the conversion of the building, as well as an allowance for an average apartment of 588 square feet, compared to a normal minimum of 750 square feet.

The Westlake project is among dozens of ground-up and adaptive reuse developments Jamison has proposed in Central Los Angeles.

Jamison filed plans in February to build a seven-story, 30-unit apartment building at 544 South Mariposa Avenue in Koreatown.

In August, the company filed plans to convert the Pierce National Life Building, an office fixture in Koreatown for a half century, into a 13-story apartment building at 3807-3815 Wilshire Boulevard.

Jamison Services is a unit of Jamison Properties, Koreatown’s largest commercial landlord. It owns other office and residential buildings near Wilshire/Western Station, including the Art Deco Wilshire Professional Building. It broke ground on a 230-unit apartment building next door. 

In June, it won preliminary approval to build a 127-unit mixed-use tower at 626 Kingsley Drive in Koreatown. 

— Dana Bartholomew