Filipinotown gate opening | Toxin check at Lincoln Heights site | Two Silver Lake homes ready to be monuments

East Hollywood

Ground has been broken for 187 units of affordable housing at the Santa Monica-Vermont Metro station. A joint project between Metro and the Little Tokyo Service Center, the Santa Monica Vermont Apartments will be reserved for low-wage workers and people who are currently homeless. It will also have more than 23,000 square feet of retail and commercial space. The site was cleared of the old Gran Burrito restaurant just a couple of months ago.

Echo Park

A six-story, 18-unit residential building is planned for Edgeware Road near Colton Street. The 75-foot-tall structure would replace a 2-story, fourplex dating back to 1905 and a one-story single-family dwelling dating back to 1890. 

The project is one of numerous high-density residential project have been completed or are planned south of the 101 Freeway near Temple Street.

Highland Park

A restaurant may be in the future for the old Security Trust & Savings Bank building at Figueroa Street and Avenue 56. An application has been filed with the city to change the building use from retail/office space to restaurant/office space. Other possible changes, however, are uncertain. The former bank has sat relatively dormant for decades while surrounding buildings have been renovated and filled with new restaurants, bars and shops on the gentrifying strip. The structure remained in limbo for about a decade after the city bought it in 2009 under eminent domain, with plans to turn it into in a constituent service center. But that never happened, and the city was forced to sell it back to the owner, Richard Rutgard, last year.

Historic Filipinotown

The Historic Filipinotown Eastern Gateway over Beverly Boulevard will be dedicated during a celebration this Saturday. The 30-foot-tall, more-than-80-foot-wide gateway, officially called “Talang Gabay - Our Guiding Star,” has been erected near the 1st Street Bridge, at Belmont Avenue. The grand opening activities will involve some street closure of Beverly Boulevard.

Lincoln Heights

The City plans to test for toxins near a major planned development site along Ave. 34. The L.A. City Council voted to begin off-site testing of wastewater, storm water and soil in the area of 135-153 W. Avenue 34, after recent reports about the site's toxic dumping history. In 1984, 252 barrels filled with toxic chemicals were discovered buried at the site, according to a recently recovered story from the Los Angeles Times. The Times later reported that testing at the property in 2021 found that volatile chemical compound levels were more than 4,000 times higher than recommended for residential standards. Real estate developers have recently been seeking to build a five-story apartment complex on the site, along with space for retail and an underground parking garage.

Silver Lake

Two houses are being recommended as Historic-Cultural monuments by the city's Cultural Heritage Commission. The Loren Miller house at 647 Micheltorena St. was nominated because its first resident, Miller, was a pioneering Civil Rights attorney. The Oliver House at 2236 N. Micheltorena St. was nominated - by its owner - to preserve the work of legendary modernist architect Rudolph Schindler. The commission recommended both homes for monument status. The request next goes to the City Council for final approval.

Architect John Bertram, who added a soundproof backyard studio to a 900-square-foot house designed by Richard Neutra. “Dialogue with the existing Neutra house is very important,” Bertram told the Los Angeles Times. “It needed to be seen as not competing with the house….”

Real Estate Reductions

This week's featured price cuts include a $9,100 slice on a Silver Lake condo, a $31,000 cut on an East LA Traditional and a $151,000 chop on an Eagle Rock townhouse.

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