Developer Shahram “Sean” Mousavi plans to replace a Boyle Heights bank that was destroyed by fire with a seven-story, 123-unit apartment complex.
The property, located at 1308-1322 South Soto Street at the northeast corner of Soto Street and Hostetter Street, contained a vacant, single-story structure when a fire broke out in November 2022. According to a previous report from ABC7, the blaze started in the attic and then spread throughout the entire building. At the time, the property was reportedly boarded up.
Mousavi, through an entity called Soto Equity, quickly acquired the damaged site. He paid Bank of America $3.3 million for the property just three months later.
His plans for the site call for the construction of a 107,400-square-foot structure with nearly 4,000 square feet of ground floor retail space. The project would contain a mix of 15 studios, 57 one-bedrooms, 40 two-bedrooms and 11 three-bedroom units. A total of 13 apartments in the proposed complex are earmarked for low-income households.
Current zoning on the site only allows for an apartment complex with 76 residential units. Mousavi is seeking incentives under the city’s Transit Oriented Communities program to increase the number of apartments.
Mousavi has other developments in Los Angeles, with housing projects in Harvard Heights and Palms. In June last year, he filed amended plans for a five-story, 28-unit apartment property near the intersection of Western Avenue and Pico Boulevard in Harvard Heights. The proposal was slightly different from the six-story building, 26-unit structure that he proposed for the site in 2021.
He also plans to replace a single-family home, located at 3451 Motor Avenue in Palms, with a six-story, 30-unit project. He secured an $8.9 million construction loan for the site earlier this year.