Lincoln Property plans senior housing overhaul in Westwood

For Lincoln Property Company, it’s out with an old building and in with a new for the elderly. 

The development firm has teamed up with Sunrise Senior Living to replace a 1950s apartment complex in Westwood with a new high-rise senior housing complex, according to plans filed with the City of Los Angeles.

The firms filed plans to raze a 43,000-square-foot, 40-unit apartment complex at 10354 Wilshire Boulevard, plans show. 

On the site, LPC and Sunrise plan to build 164 units across two buildings, one which will stand 18 stories tall. The entire project will be about 220,000 square feet. 

United El Segundo, a gas station-operator-turned developer run by Jeffrey and Ronald Appel, owns the site, according to project plans, though LPC and Virginia-based Sunrise are running development through a long-term ground lease, according to a source familiar with the project.

United El Segundo bought the site in 2014 for $21 million, records show. 

The 18-story building will be designated for senior housing, while the other 28-unit building will be reserved for very low income individuals, according to project plans. Adept Architecture will design it. 

The project is “an investment in Westwood,” providing senior and affordable housing near public transit and medical care, according to Philip Kroskin, who runs real estate at Sunrise. 

Senior housing has become an attractive asset class for investors, given the country’s surging senior population, according to JLL. The population of people over the age of 75 is expected to grow 44 percent over the next 10 years, according to a JLL report earlier this year. 

United El Segundo itself has been on a planning streak the last few months. In February, it unveiled plans to construct a 29,000-square-foot office building at 8497 Sunset Boulevard, which will be entirely wrapped in a digital billboard. 

In June, United El Segundo paid $19.5 million for a parcel along Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade from Federal Realty Investment Trust, when it offloaded a significant chunk of property along the retail strip.