A former gas station lot on Santa Monica Boulevard in Sawtelle is taking shape as a six-story apartment complex with 119 units, just west of the 405 freeway. The project at 11261 W. Santa Monica Boulevard will include 17 apartments set aside as very low-income affordable housing, alongside a rooftop deck, outdoor patios, a gym, and parking for 147 vehicles.
The building was unveiled in a report from Urbanize LA, which detailed the project's design and planned amenities. Developer Wiseman Residential built the complex using density and height incentives available through Los Angeles's Transit Oriented Communities program, which allowed for a larger building than would otherwise be permitted under standard zoning rules. KFA Architecture developed the entitlement design, while Uriu & Associates served as project architect, and Hunter Kerhart Architectural Photography supplied the images accompanying the outlet's report.
The site's path to completion began years earlier. BLT Enterprises entitled the property for development under the TOC incentives before selling it to Wiseman Residential on December 11, 2019, for $13.75 million, or roughly $493 per buildable square foot for the pre-entitled 27,890-square-foot parcel, according to Traded. Brokers Anthony Muhlstein and Brian Bowis of Newmark Knight Frank represented BLT Enterprises in that sale. Wiseman Residential was the buyer.
Affordability Rules and a Nearby Rental Squeeze
The 17 very low-income units are included as an affordable-housing condition of the project's TOC incentives, according to Los Angeles City Planning. That framework traces back to Measure JJJ, the voter-approved initiative that established TOC guidelines to encourage housing construction near transit corridors.
The affordable set-aside lands in a submarket where rents run well above the citywide norm. Average monthly rent in Sawtelle reached $3,937 in August 2026, up 2.66% from $3,835 a year earlier, per RentCafe data.
A Developer With Deep Westside Roots
Wiseman Residential has continued expanding across the Westside. The company previously developed a five-story, 51-unit apartment complex located at Santa Monica Boulevard and Purdue Avenue, three blocks west of the new project. In March 2026, the developer also proposed a 490-unit mixed-use complex along Venice Boulevard near the Culver City Metro station, according to Traded's earlier coverage of that filing.
The West Los Angeles Civic Center is a nine-acre municipal campus where a far larger, 926-unit mixed-income redevelopment called West L.A. Commons has been proposed. The project faced a significant financing shortfall in 2024, as reported by Urbanize LA. The civic center itself is also part of the broader site discussion.
Shifting Rules Around Affordability Terms
Los Angeles policy on affordability terms may be moving.
Change is also arriving from Sacramento. In neighboring Santa Monica, developers submitted the city's first application in August under California's SB 79 law, which overrides local height and density limits for multifamily projects near major transit stops, as Hoodline previously reported. Together with the TOC program that made the Sawtelle project possible, these state and local tools illustrate how transit-adjacent corridors across the Westside continue to be reshaped by density incentives, even as larger public-private efforts like West L.A. Commons struggle to pencil out.
