As the Expo Line marches west to Santa Monica, so do the opportunities for transit oriented developments surrounding its stations. The under-construction Palms Station already sits within one of LA's most densely populated neighborhoods, but that hasn't stopped the folks over at Los Angeles Transit Neighborhood Plan from drawing up a conceptual design for an adjacent mixed-use TOD. In LATNP's vision, the strip mall located on National Boulevard just north of the 10 freeway would be demolished to make way for apartments above a pedestrian friendly retail complex. Two residential buildings would front National, with small scale commercial establishments lining their ground floors. The southernmost segment of the parcel would feature a supermarket below an above-grade parking garage, creating a buffer between the residential buildings and the adjacent freeway. New structures would range from three to seven stories in height, staying in scale with the neighborhood's existing multi-family buildings. Of course, I can't emphasize enough that this is nothing more than a hypothetical vision. Still, the strip mall occupies valuable real estate, and probably represents the only chance for a large scale TOD near Palms Station. Some non-fantasy developments in the neighborhood include the proposed Hughes Apartments, the under-construction Motor Avenue Apartments, and the super fugly Palms Point mixed-user.
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