A surface parking lot at 2306 W. Jefferson Boulevard in Jefferson Park could soon be replaced by a six-story building holding 35 studio and one-bedroom apartments restricted to low- and moderate-income renters, plus 1,480 square feet of ground-floor commercial space. The proposal, filed with the Los Angeles Department of City Planning, was put forward by Mark Judaken, according to the application.
The project, first detailed by Urbanize LA, is being developed by Kalnel Gardens, LLC, with Mika Design Group handling the architecture, per the filing plans. The building's facade calls for brick veneer wrapping the ground and second floors, light sand-colored stucco rising through the third to sixth floors, and dark grey metal and fiber-reinforced concrete detailing the parapet and cornice. Among the 35 units will be a single manager's apartment, according to the plans.
Zero Parking, Thanks to State Law
Notably, the filing calls for zero on-site automobile parking, a choice made possible by California's Assembly Bill 2097, a 2022 law that bars local governments from enforcing parking minimums on housing projects within a half-mile of major transit stops, according to Historic Jefferson Park. The law was designed to cut construction costs and nudge residents toward public transit rather than cars.
The site also falls within the Jefferson Park Historic Preservation Overlay Zone, but the existing structures there are classified as non-contributing elements, meaning they carry no recognized historic significance. That status placed the proposal under advisory consultation with the local HPOZ board in late 2025, per Los Angeles City Planning records. City Planning notices put the total building size at roughly 21,163 square feet, with the project seeking entitlements through the Citywide Housing Incentive Program, a municipal tool meant to streamline affordable housing approvals.
Part of a Broader Push Along the Corridor
This is not Kalnel Gardens' only active filing on Jefferson Boulevard. The same project team submitted plans in October 2025 for a mixed-use affordable housing project a few blocks away at 2903 W. Jefferson Boulevard, seeking density bonus incentives for another six-story building with 26 apartments, three of them very low-income units, and 2,822 square feet of retail, according to Urbanize LA's earlier reporting. In February, the Los Angeles City Planning Commission also scheduled a hearing for a Kalnel Gardens project at 5048–5056 W. Jefferson Boulevard, a six-story, 33-unit mixed-use development with seven very low-income units that would replace two vacant commercial structures, per city planning records.
Kalnel Gardens' managing figure, Mark Judaken, has a notable history with California housing policy: the company was at the center of the 2016 California Court of Appeal ruling in Kalnel Gardens, LLC v. City of Los Angeles, which addressed how the state Density Bonus Act interacts with the California Coastal Act, according to Justia Law. The developer has also worked before with Mika Design Group, partnering in 2021 on Kelton Apartments, a 27-unit, five-story project in Palms that used Transit-Oriented Communities density incentives, according to WhatNow Los Angeles.
A Corridor in Transition
Jefferson Boulevard has become an active node for mid-rise infill in recent years. The City Planning Commission approved a 70-unit apartment building with ground-floor commercial space at 2800 W. Jefferson Boulevard in July, according to Urbanize LA, and a separate 100% affordable, six-story project with 35 apartments was proposed nearby at 3206 W. Jefferson Boulevard in 2025 to replace an existing commercial structure. Commercial listings previously described the 2300-2306 W. Jefferson site as an 11,680-square-foot parcel zoned LA C2, which included a 3,778-square-foot store building, according to Major Properties.
Whether neighbors in the Jefferson Park HPOZ will embrace another zero-parking, six-story structure remains to be seen, and the timeline for city approval under the Citywide Housing Incentive Program has not yet been set. For now, the 2306 W. Jefferson proposal joins a growing list of similar filings reshaping the boulevard's low-slung commercial stretches into denser housing.
