Jamison Lands $60M Loan for Resi Conversion of K-Town Office

Jamison Properties has snagged a $60 million construction loan to convert offices at the former Pierce National Life Building into 210 apartments in Koreatown.

The locally based developer led by Jaime Lee secured the loan from Beach Point Capital Management to convert the blighted 13-story building at 3807-3815 Wilshire Boulevard, the Commercial Observer reported.

The prominent Koreatown landlord filed plans in 2022 to turn a dozen floors of the highrise at the northwest corner of Wilshire and Western Avenue into 176 apartments, with the bottom floor reserved for shops and restaurants. It later upped the proposal to 210 units.

Plans also call for adding a 7,100-square-foot lounge and swimming pool deck on the roof.

A cost and timeline for the redevelopment were not disclosed.

The mid-century concrete building, designed by Welton Becket in 1965, has been an office fixture in Koreatown for more than half a century. But the historic landmark has also become an international symbol of urban decay.

Last month, Radio Seoul reported the once thriving commercial building “now stands as a deteriorating monument covered in graffiti and debris, contributing to neighborhood blight.”

Jamison, its landlord, is also a Los Angeles pioneer in adaptive reuse of older office buildings. The firm has converted 1.4 million square feet of offices into 1,200 residential units, which now make up 20 percent of its multifamily portfolio, according to the firm.

In October, the developer and Downtown-based Arc Capital Partners announced plans to convert another 13-story office building into 236 homes and 15,000 square feet of shops and restaurants at 3325 Wilshire Boulevard. It would be its 10th project in Koreatown.

Within the past year, however, Jamison has hit financial headwinds.

In December, a 163,170-square-foot office complex owned by Jamison at 16530 Ventura Boulevard in Encino was headed toward receivership, The Real Deal reported.

A month earlier, a $35.4 million commercial mortgage-backed securities loan tied to Jamison’s 340,000-square-foot office building at 811 Wilshire Boulevard in Downtown was sent to special servicing, according to TRD.

At the same time, Koreatown’s biggest office landlord defaulted on an $86.5 million CMBS loan connected to a 34-story office tower at 3435 Wilshire Boulevard, in Koreatown.

— Dana Bartholomew