A First Look at the Fairfax/San Vicente Mixed-Use Development

In mid-July, the Park La Brea News announced that Shalhevet High School was planning to rebuild its campus and add an adjacent mixed-use development.  Now that some more information on the project has been made public, we can get a better look at what's to come.

The proposed development, as seen from the southwest.  Image from Alliance Residential Company.

For the purpose of this blog, I don't have much interest in the school building.  Sorry Shalhevet, it's not personal (just business).  So we're going to focus on the residential structure, the specs of which read as follows:

 ...a mixed-use residential project with approximately 149 residential dwelling units and approximately 4,280 square feet of ground floor commercial space on the south parcel.

I imagine the retail space would be destined for a small, neighborhood serving mini-mart.  While there is a large residential population surrounding this intersection, I suspect that any kind of "destination," type store (i.e. the kind that people might consider driving to) would draw the ire of the neighbors.  While this proposal is technically at the corner of Fairfax and San Vicente, Olympic Blvd intersects both streets just a hundred or so feet away.  To put it mildly, traffic kind of gets backed up around here.

A bird's eye government satellite's view of the Fairfax/San Vicente/Olympic intersection(s).  The parcel destined for the school and next-door apartment building is outlined in red.

Anyway, time for the eye candy provided by the environmental report.  I'm withholding judgment on the architecture for a later date, but will say that I'm glad to see a 5-7 story building in LA that isn't designed by Thomas Cox Architects.

Western Elevation

Southern Elevation

Partial Eastern Elevation

Another Partial Eastern Elevation.

Northern Elevation, much of which which will be hidden behind the school building.

And finally....

An artist's conceptualization of the eastern side of the building.  Lots of people hanging out on porches doing nothing and an elderly couple hanging out on a balcony, pointing at nothing.

Of course, this one is still a ways off (as in 3-4 years).  The environmental report indicates that this project will be carried out independently of the school's rebuild.  Estimated start-to-finish timeline is 14 months for the school, followed by 18 months for the mixed-user.  Hard to believe the sheer amount of time it takes to build a low rise apartment building.