Wood framing is climbing skyward at 3990 S. Wade Street in Mar Vista, where a single-family home once stood and a five-story, 21-unit affordable housing complex is now taking shape. The project, developed by ELAD Investment, LLC, sits just north of Washington Boulevard and is designed without any on-site parking.
According to Urbanize LA, the building will include a mix of studio, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom apartments. All of those units are slated to be rented to low- and moderate-income households, with the exception of the manager's unit.
The project is eligible for density bonus incentives, which the outlet reports allow for a larger structure than local zoning rules would otherwise permit. The design comes from Commun, and a rendering shared with the publication shows a contemporary podium-style building topped with rooftop amenity decks.
A Growing Corridor Along Washington Boulevard
The Wade Street site sits just north of 12701 Washington Boulevard, a commercial property that has previously been approved for redevelopment into a mixed-use apartment complex, per the same report. Together, the two sites point to a stretch of Mar Vista where multiple parcels are being eyed or reworked for new housing.
Elsewhere in the neighborhood, a six-unit apartment building at 12442 W. Pacific Avenue is slated to make way for a different affordable project. Developer Thomas Beadel has proposed a five-story building there with 42 one- and two-bedroom apartments and no on-site parking, according to Urbanize LA. Those units would be restricted to moderate-, low-, and very low-income households.
Precedent From Vista Ballona
Mar Vista has seen this kind of construction before. The 50-unit Vista Ballona development, built by Community Corporation of Santa Monica on a vacant lot at 3960 Grand View Boulevard, reached completed wood framing on a planned six-story building, Westside Today reported. That project's apartments were priced for low-income tenants earning between 30 and 60 percent of the area median income, with 12 units set aside for people with developmental disabilities.
The density bonus incentives cited for the Wade Street project fall under a broader program described by Los Angeles City Planning, which frames Density Bonus as a tool allowing developers to build additional units in exchange for including affordable housing.
No completion date, construction schedule, or project cost has been disclosed for the Wade Street development, and it remains unclear whether work has begun on the adjacent Washington Boulevard property approved for mixed-use redevelopment. For now, the framing rising above Wade Street marks the most visible sign of change on a block that, until recently, held just a single house.
