Trammell Crow-Led Team Kicks Off $453M Mixed-Use Project in LA

By Barbra Murray

Vermont Corridor

Trammell Crow Co., its residential subsidiary High Street Residential and a team of public-sector partners have officially commenced construction of Vermont Corridor, a $453 million mixed-use project in Los Angeles. The public-private partnership expects the transit-oriented development, which will feature both new construction and adaptive reuse, to bring new life to the city’s Koreatown neighborhood.

“Often, it just takes one or two landmark developments to really carry the tide for an entire neighborhood as it relates to redevelopment and bringing new projects and new ideas—and neighborhood improvements along with it,” Greg Ames, managing director in Trammell Crow Co.’s Los Angeles office, told Commercial Property Executive. The development of Vermont Corridor is being managed under the umbrella of TCC.

The County of Los Angeles, Public Facilities Group and Meta Housing Corp. complete the team behind Vermont Corridor, which will consist of county-occupied office space, residential units and retail offerings on three sites along Vermont Ave.

The project’s initial phase will yield the 468,000-square-foot Vermont Corridor County Administration Building. The 21-story tower will be home to the new administrative headquarters for the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health and the County’s Workforce Development, Aging and Community Services. Designed by architectural firm Gensler and fully financed via tax-exempt bonds, the building will also encompass 7,500 square feet of ground-level retail space and a peer resource center.  “This facility is one of most important legs on the stool in the situation we have with homelessness in Los Angeles County,” Ames said. “It will help expand the breadth and depth of services, so it’s important to get the project done and done as quickly as possible.”

Putting the ‘live’ in live-work-play

Meta Corp. is spearheading Vermont Corridor’s second phase, a Y&M Architects-designed building featuring 72 residential units, all of which are designated as affordable senior housing. The residences will account for nearly one-third of the project’s total housing offerings. “The County recognized there was a shortage of affordable senior housing in the community and saw this massive redevelopment as an opportunity to do their part to address the issue,” noted Ames. “But they didn’t dictate the number of units. Meta Housing was able to go in and maximize the development potential of that property and that’s where we got the number of units.” The building will also be the site of a 13,000-square-foot neighborhood community center.

Vermont Corridor’s final phase, led by High Street, will entail the adaptive reuse of an existing office building. The 12-story structure will be converted into a Steinberg Hart-designed multifamily community featuring 172 market-rate units and 4,700 square feet of ground-level retail space and project amenities.

Phases two and three are scheduled to get underway in mid-2019 and late 2021, respectively. Construction of the Administration Building, spearheaded by general contractor Hathaway Dinwiddie, is on track to reach completion in the fourth quarter of 2021.

“Vermont Corridor will have beautiful, striking architecture with street-front retail, so the location is going from sites with dysfunctional, old office buildings that are not attractive to look at, to sites with spectacular state-of-the-art architecture, side-by-side on the same block,” Ames added. “We believe it will be transformative for the Koreatown neighborhood.”

Image courtesy of Trammell Crow/Gensler