Four existing homes at 3648 S. Empire Drive in Palms could be torn down to make way for a seven-story apartment building with 33 units, according to an application filed with the Los Angeles Department of City Planning. The project would bring studio, one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments to a residential stretch of the neighborhood, along with parking for 34 vehicles.
The application, first reported by Urbanize LA, shows the project applicant is associated with Hinterland Projects, which requested streamlined approvals under the city's 2021-2029 Housing Element as well as incentives through the Citywide Housing Incentive Program. Those tools would let the developer build a larger structure than standard zoning would otherwise allow on the site, which is designated for rezoning under the same housing element. In exchange, the project would set aside four apartments for extremely low-income households.
The property, which currently holds a fourplex and a single-family home, has 10,948 square feet of building space, according to Traded, which describes the property as a development site and investment opportunity. The parcel's R3-1 zoning is noted in a Keller Williams listing describing the site as sitting just south of the I-10 freeway between Palms and Venice Boulevards. The new proposal, which pushes the unit count to 33, illustrates how much added density the city's evolving incentive programs can unlock on a single lot.
A Familiar Design Team With a West Adams Precedent
Warren Techentin Architecture is designing the Empire Drive project, and the same project team is attached to a proposed apartment complex along Redondo Boulevard in West Adams. That earlier collaboration was a six-story, 23-unit Transit Oriented Communities infill project at 2669 S. Redondo Boulevard. Warren Techentin Architecture has also designed other mid-rise residential buildings across the Westside, including a six-story apartment building at 1402 S. Veteran Avenue in Westwood and a five-story courtyard development at 1000 N. Alfred Street in Hollywood.
Plans for the Empire Drive site describe a contemporary podium-type building with a small courtyard and a rooftop deck. The design includes a courtyard and rooftop deck.
How the City's New Density Rules Made This Possible
The Citywide Housing Incentive Program, or CHIP, officially took effect on February 11, 2025, expanding density allowances and streamlining reviews for mixed-income developments, according to Los Angeles City Planning. The ordinance tied CHIP to the city's 2021–2029 Housing Element. The Empire Drive project proposes four extremely low-income units.
Los Angeles City Planning describes CHIP as a tool for mixed-income developments, rather than providing proposal totals or a geographic breakdown. The Los Angeles City Council adopted CHIP as part of a state-mandated goal to create zoning capacity for more than 255,000 new housing units under the 2021–2029 Housing Element, according to CoStar News, though single-family neighborhoods were excluded from the ordinance following local community pushback.
Palms Emerges as a Density Hotspot
The Empire Drive filing lands amid a wave of similar proposals reshaping Palms. In March, a 490-unit mixed-use development was filed for 9000–9020 Venice Boulevard, also seeking CHIP entitlements and reserving 64 units for extremely low-income tenants, as previously reported. The following month, the article turned to residential development along Overland Avenue.
Taken together, the filings show new infill-housing proposals along Venice Boulevard and Empire Drive in a neighborhood long dominated by lower-scale apartment buildings and single-family homes.
