Carmel Partners Ups Ambition for Resi Tower on La Cienega

Last year, Carmel Partners trounced four appeals trying to block its plans to build a 24-story apartment building in L.A.’s Carthay. The builder now aims to go much higher.

The San Francisco-based developer has filed revised plans to build a 43-story building on the approved site at 1050 South La Cienega Boulevard, Urbanize Los Angeles reported, citing a report from ATC. It would replace a vacant lot just south of Beverly Hills.

New preliminary plans call for a 43-story apartment tower with 532 units, with unspecified parking and open space.

The latest project would also include 64 affordable apartments set aside for extremely low-income households, or 12 percent of all its units.

The project replaces plans approved in fall 2023 to build a 24-story 290-unit highrise above 4,100 square feet of ground-floor shops. A podium and underground parking garage would serve 412 cars.

Carmel Partners had sought Transit Oriented Community incentives to build a larger building than zoning rules allow in exchange for 29 affordable apartments for extremely low-income households.

The previous project, designed by Chicago-based Solomon Cordwell Buenz and initially planned at 28 stories, would have soared 271 feet, the tallest building in the area. The developer was cleared to build the tower after quashing four appeals in January last year. It featured a glass-covered building with rows of jutting balconies and a landscaped rooftop deck, according to renderings.

It’s not clear if the architect was retained for the replacement project, or what approvals Carmel Partners needs to add another 19 stories.

Carmel Partners is no stranger to building high-rise buildings that soar far above their surroundings, according to Urbanize.

The project is the latest in a string of high-rise developments in Los Angeles from the firm, following a 35-story highrise now taking shape in the Arts District and similar towers in West Adams and Downtown, according to Urbanize. Carmel Partners also plans to build three big residential projects in Sawtelle and new apartments in Long Beach.

The firm, led by Ron Zeff, was tied to a wide-ranging public corruption scandal centered on former Los Angeles City Council member José Huizar, sentenced early last year to 13 years in federal prison after admitting to a pay-to-play scheme for developers in exchange for $1.5 million in bribes.

Huizar pleaded guilty to charges that involved accepting political contributions from Carmel Partners for his wife’s short-lived City Council run during the approval process for the company’s 35-story, 475-unit tower at 520 Mateo Street, in the Arts District.

Carmel Partners agreed to pay a $1.2 million fine to avoid prosecution in connection with the City Hall corruption case, admitting no wrongdoing in the settlement.

— Dana Bartholomew