Commercial buildings make way for high-rise complex at Wilshire & Ardmore

After five years, rubber may finally hit the road for Jamison Services, Inc.'s proposed high-rise apartment complex at 3545 Wilshire Boulevard.

The Koreatown-based firm recently started demolishing existing improvements on the property, which spans a half city block between Wilshire and 6th Street along the west side of Ardmore Avenue.  Two small commercial buildings and associated parking are to be replaced with a pair of high-rise buildings - standing 23 and 14 stories in height - featuring 428 apartments above approximately 32,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space.

A large parking garage would span between the two buildings, offering space for over 860 vehicles.

The approved plan, designed by Gruen Associates, is revised from an earlier iteration of the project which had called for a taller 32-story tower fronting Wilshire Boulevard - though the amount of housing proposed is unchanged.  A feasibility study conducted for Jamison Services found that a lower-scaled tower would reduce the overall project budget by approximately 20 percent, as well as accelerating its construction timeline.  Likewise, shifting tower's footprint north avoids the need for additional structural work to protect the underground structure of Wilshire/Normandie Station, which sits just 30 feet south of the project site.

Recent changes at 3545 Wilshire are not the first time Jamison has switched up its plans for the site.  The property was slated for a podium-type apartment complex as recently as seven years ago.

The towers at 3545 Wilshire are the latest entry in a long list of multifamily residential developments from Jamison Services on its home turf, following an adaptive reuse project across the street and more than a dozen proposed and under construction ground-up buildings.

• 3545 Wilshire Boulevard (Urbanize LA)