Samuelian Group Floats Affordable Housing in Woodland Hills

Almost 100 units of affordable housing are slated to rise on a vacant lot in Woodland Hills.

Los Angeles-based Samuelian Group filed an application with the Los Angeles Department of City Planning to build a seven-story edifice at 23022-23032 Ventura Boulevard with 96 apartments above parking for 63 vehicles, Urbanize Los Angeles reported.

The development, known as Valleris on Ventura, would contain a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom floor plans. Samuelian Group is seeking entitlements including citywide housing incentives to build a larger building than usually permitted by zoning regulations. All but one of the units would be for rent at the low- and moderate-income levels; the remaining apartment would be reserved as an on-site manager’s unit.

Affordable housing has been taking a greater hold in the Los Angeles multifamily market as developers see the promise of quicker approval timelines and easier roads to financing. The city ranked among the top 10 nationwide for affordable housing construction between 2020 and 2024, with nearly 21 percent of all apartment construction in that time being income-restricted units, according to RentCafe data. The more than 9,400 affordable units completed during that time represented a roughly 80 percent increase compared to the 2015 to 2019 period.

Fully affordable developments stand to benefit the most from Los Angeles’ housing entitlement bureaucracy under Executive Directive 1, which fast-tracks approvals for 100 percent income-restricted projects and allows developers to skip public hearings and discretionary reviews.

Samuelian Group’s application notes the Ventura Boulevard development as a 100 percent affordable project, which would ostensibly get shovels in dirt quickly. The proposed development would rise next door to a newly built 100-unit affordable housing complex at 23036-23060 Ventura Boulevard from Daylight Community Development.

With the ongoing development of Warner Center master-planned mixed-use district, Woodland Hills has been attracting the eyes of multifamily investors looking to break into the neighborhood. Last summer, Waterton dropped $180 million for the 522-unit Kitt at Warner Center apartment complex. Earlier last year, the Housing Authority of Los Angeles purchased the 335-unit Clarendon apartment complex in Woodland Hills for $141.9 million. Early this year, Wellpointe moved to get a piece of the 100 percent affordable pie, acquiring a 4.7-acre site with hopes to build a fully income-restricted development instead of the previously planned 650-unit market-rate high-rise and 240-room luxury hotel there.

— Chris Malone Méndez