Lahmon Architects office will be CLOSED the week of December 26-30, 2022 and will reopen on January 2, 2023

2022 FALL/WINTER NEWSLETTER

PROJECT HIGHLIGHT

PROJECTS - COMPLETED

PROJECTS - UNDER CONSTRUCTION

The Depot at Hyde Park broke ground last year and has taken shape along Crenshaw Blvd. The plastered exterior was recently unveiled featuring bold moments of orange. The project continues our work with long-time development collaborators, GTM Holdings and general contractors, United Building Company. Depot at Hyde Park marks our first collaboration with W.O.R.K.S. (Women Organizing Resources Knowledge and Services), who have designated all 43 units to be affordable housing and half of them to be specifically dedicated to victims of domestic abuse. The design intent is to catalyze high quality development and architectural design along the Crenshaw corridor. The building façade presents a dynamic, pleated effect, conveying movement along the street so that no two vantage points are alike. On axis with 66th Street, the double-height entry plaza promotes activity and connects to the courtyard and resident garden above. The proximity to the brand new K Line qualifies it for Transit Oriented Communities (T.O.C.) Tier 3 status. Completion of the building is slated for early 2023. 

Funding for the project has come from HCIDLA Land Loan, HCIDLA Proposition HHH, HACLA Project Based Vouchers, LACDA No Place Like Home Funds, CTCAC 4% Tax Credits, and CDLAC Bonds.

Depot at Hyde Park, site

Depot at Hyde Park, entry foyer,

under construction

Depot at Hyde Park, center

courtyard, under construction

Palm Vista has entered it's final stages of construction at the project site in Winnetka in the San Fernando Valley. The project is yet another with our friends at GTM Holdings & United Building Company, but marks our first time working with HCHC (Hollywood Community Housing Corporation)

The design of this 94-unit, affordable housing project opens itself up to reveal an interior courtyard and reaches out to its surroundings in an inviting and friendly way. The structure topped out over the summer with an event attended by local political leaders and will have its exterior siding and plaster finishes as well as its windows installed as we usher in the new year. The unit interiors are in their finishing stages and mock-ups of cabinetry are currently being completed.

Though it was originally entitled as a market-rate project, the team purchased and quickly re-entitled it as a 94-unit, 100% affordable project using SB1818 zoning incentives. Funding sources include LACDA No Place Like Home Funds, HCD MHP, LACDA Housing Trust Funds, CTCAC 4%/CDLAC, and HCD IIG Funds.

Palm Vista site

(Left to Right) President, Mark Lahmon, Managing/Studio Director, Jenny Cabal, & Design Architect, Jeremy Mills attend the More Than a Roof Event at Palm Vista in June.

2847 Leeward is in the final stages of construction and looks on track to be completed in early 2023. This project is a six-story, 46-unit market-rate apartment building designed for families and located near the Koreatown neighborhood of Los Angeles. The design is loosely inspired by traditional Korean motifs which uses a careful composition of horizontal projections, fenestration, material, pattern and color to give the nearly flat façade the illusion of depth. The rooftop will serve as the primary source of open space on the property where residents can take in unobstructed 360-degree views .

Leeward courtyard, under construction

Leeward street façade, under construction

Sepulveda & Manchester is also in the final stages of construction and looks to be completed in 2023. Located on an L-shaped property which was previously home to a Grinder restaurant, the project consists of a six-story building which will feature 87 apartments above an 82-car garage and approximately 900 square feet of ground-floor retail space.

The project’s developer entitled the apartment complex using T.O.C incentives to allow the construction of a larger building than allowed under current zoning rules. In exchange, 8 of the apartments will be set aside as deed-restricted, extremely, low-income housing for a period of 55 years.

Sepulveda & Manchester site,

PROJECTS - ON THE BOARDS

5101 W Pico - Taylor Equities, LLC

5101 W Pico is our first project with developer Taylor Equities in collaboration with Local Development LLC. 5101 Pico politely makes the transition from an adjacent residentially zoned and diverse neighborhood into a 140,000 SF denser housing model on a 32,000 SF full block lot in a commercially zoned transit corridor. 

Expected to break ground in late 2024, the development replaces a long-standing neighborhood that struggled with a poorly managed liquor store that has had frequent melees and shootings. With its proximity to mass transit and the restriction of 13 of its 136 dwelling units for extremely- low incomes, 5101 Pico utilizes local T.O.C. policy incentives for additional density, reduced parking, and side yards.

The Commonwealth - Mason Yoon, GRCLA, LLC

The Commonwealth’s modern architectural expression sprouts from historic roots. It offers 142 units of new market rate housing with the privilege and responsibility of occupying the same property as Los Angeles’ 1929 landmark Sheraton Town House. The familial relationship of these two buildings is visible and expands the influence of each.

At seven stories, the Commonwealth lets the Sheraton’s existing 13 level brick building remain the dominant urban form, marking the corner of Wilshire and Commonwealth. The bold form is meant to address the extended view to the east, that is Lafayette Park.

Utilizing framed exterior wall openings, the design mimics the Sheraton’s regular bearing wall pattern. However, at random locations the absence of openings gives a dynamic sparkle to the new street façade. On top of rigid modulation, the historic building achieves its character with strong horizontal datums, two contrasting material tones, and a logic of traditional window detailing. The Commonwealth works those same elements, but without decoration and with a subtle hand. A metal box frame surrounds each punched window, providing refined metal detail against a clean white plaster wall. The resulting modern character is simple and true to material.

The Commonwealth is a mixed income multi-family building with 10% of total units set aside for extremely-low income households. It utilizes T.O.C. Tier 3 development incentives to reduce required setbacks, open-space and transitional height. Two levels of subterranean parking fit between existing adjacent below grade structures. it provides 63 parking spaces. Amenities include a roof deck and entry courtyard facing Lafayette park.  

Sheraton Town House - Mason Yoon, GRCLA, LLC

Concurrent with construction of the new Commonwealth building, we will also orchestrate a restoration on the historic Sheraton Town House. It will include a voluntary seismic retrofit, complete accessibility upgrades, and modernization of its utility infrastructure.

Originally completed in 1929, the Sheraton Town House is a highly visible example of late Beaux Arts classical architecture and was one of the most prominent luxury apartment buildings in the fashionable Wilshire District. In 1937, the Sheraton was re-launched as a luxury hotel. Among other features, it hosted one of Los Angeles’ storied night clubs, the Zebra Room, where Elizabeth Taylor celebrated her first marriage. In 1993 the City of Los Angeles designated the Sheraton an Historic Cultural Monument and in 1997, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

In 1999, the building was converted from hotel to affordable housing. The current quantity of 134 units will be maintained with all new interior finishes, appliances and fixtures.

3601 Mission Road - Brenner Capital

3601 Mission Road is a 184-unit development that pays homage to the past while addressing the needs of the present and striving for a brighter future within one of LA's oldest neighborhoods, Lincoln Heights. The heavy board-formed concrete base firmly grounds the project to convey a feeling of permanence and significance in a neighborhood that has struggled from suppression and lack of investment for decades. Our first project working with developer Brenner Capital will allow families with generational roots to remain in the neighborhood by providing many more affordable housing units than the typical market-rate project.

The building maintains a cohesive design language as it responds appropriately to the three vastly different greatest street frontages. A heavily landscaped front yard facing Mission Road is a continuation of the neighborhood’s greatest historic and appreciated amenity in Lincoln Park, located directly across the street. The building mass steps back at the podium where a pool deck makes it’s visual connection to the park. An undulating curved façade patterned with varying degrees of recessed and protruding balconies along the 300-foot Lincoln Park Avenue frontage brings a human scale and a perseveration of neighborhood while providing a natural sense of surveillance to a currently long dark strip of sidewalk. The main entry is central located along this stretch to help activate and enhance the neighborhood experience. The North end along Barbee Street addresses the lower scale single-family residences stepping down to 2-story townhomes fronted by a15’ landscaped front yard. This allows for humanizing the development and to enhance the scale and feeling of the neighborhood.

3004 Sunset - RYDA



Located at a visually prominent bend along Sunset Boulevard at Reno Street in Silverlake, RYDA’s 3004 Sunset is poised to address the energy of this fast moving, entertainment rich enclave by providing a five-story, 74 market-rate apartment building. Six of these apartments will be retained for extremely low incomes to allow the advantages of T.O.C. development incentives.

Rippling bands of red pixelated metal cladding make for a dynamic gesture evoking the high energy of the boulevard and neighborhood. This energy dissipates as it turns the corner at Reno Street where a steep grade level decline ends in a unique street level unit entry patio invitingly anchors the alley corner while providing a friendly neighborhood transition to the older, lower density developments to the South. The main entry at Sunset Boulevard cuts into the red metal cladded façade to reveal an inviting open lobby that flows straight through to a central courtyard framing distant views to the south.

The project utilized a waiver of dedication at Reno Street to reduce the amount of required highway dedication as it was clear the remainder of the street would not be improved in the foreseeable future due to existing conditions to the South. 

TEAM UPDATES

NEW TEAM HIRES

LA has been growing! Jaylene Sanchez and Marc Mendez, who began the year as interns, were promoted to full-time positions in May after their graduation from Cal Poly Pomona and Yeganeh Malouhi, also a recent graduate of Cal Poly Pomona, joined our team as a designer as well. This spring, we also welcomed two virtual designers, Erica Gasparini and Martin Arnaudo, as well as our new office manager, Charity Sawyer. They have each been an indispensable addition to the firm.

Yeganeh Malouhi

Design Architect

Marc Mendez

Design Architect

Jaylene Sanchez

Design Architect

Charity Sawyer

Office Manager

Erica Gasparini

Design Architect

Martin Arnaudo

Design Architect

OPEN JOB OPPORTUNITIES

Since next year continues to look busier than the last, we are committed to growing our staff. For more information on current job openings, please visit our LinkedIn.

TEAM PROMOTIONS

TEAM OUTINGS

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS

ORGANIZATIONS & CAUSES WE SUPPORT

We’d also like to encourage anyone to donate to the organizations we also support, below. They do incredible work and they’re the reason that projects like the ones we work on, get built.

IN CLOSING

We’re so proud of the work we’ve done over the past year and we look forward to what the new year will bring!

For more information and/or project updates, please follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn or visit our website. Have a terrific holiday and we look forward to sharing another ground breaking year with every one of you!