Institutional Property Advisors (IPA), a division of Marcus & Millichap, closed the sale of The Lofts at Noho Commons, a 292-unit multifamily property in the NoHo Arts District of Los Angeles. The sale price was $92.5 million, or $316,781 per unit.

“The property’s proximity to major employers including CBS Studio Center, Universal Studios, Walt Disney Studios and Warner Bros. Studios enhances its appeal to entertainment professionals,” said Joseph Grabiec, IPA executive managing director. Grabiec and IPA’s Kevin Green and Gregory Harris represented the seller, a joint venture partnership, and procured the buyer, The GPI Companies.

Constructed in 2006 and located at 11179 Weddington St. in North Hollywood, The Lofts at NoHo Commons has 237 lofts, 41 one-bedroom units, and 14 live/work lofts. Recent upgrades, including interior upgrades to 85% of the market-rate units, total $9 million. In addition to offering proximity to major studios, the property is located within walking distance of popular dining, entertainment and nightlife destinations along Lankershim Boulevard.

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority has formed a joint development agreement with NOHO Development Associates LLC, an affiliate of Trammell Crow Co. (TCC) and High Street Residential, on a transit-oriented mixed-use project in North Hollywood, reported LA Business First. To be located above Metro’s North Hollywood Station, District NoHo will be the largest residential project to date for Metro.

District NoHo will be a 12-acre mixed-use project bringing low-income housing, retail, office and open space. More than 1,400 apartments are proposed, a tally that would be the biggest in terms of affordable homes and total units for the transit agency.

Phase I entails building 570 mixed-income apartments, reserving at least 310 housing units for renters earning less than 60% of the median income in Los Angeles County and 5% for moderate-income households, LA Business First reported. Up to nine phases are planned, according to TCC.

Rendering courtesy of HKS Architects.

GPI Companies paid $92.5 million for the 292-unit Lofts at NoHo Commons, further bolstering the real estate investment firm’s presence in the L.A. market.

The purchase price, confirmed by an industry source, pencils out to nearly $317,000 per unit for the property at 11179 Weddington Street in North Hollywood.

The company nabbed a deal on the property. KBS Strategic Opportunity REIT II and MWest Holdings paid $102.5 million for the asset in 2016 before renovating it the following year.

The property is hard to miss from the street, with the exterior bearing the art of Berlin artist Thierry Noir, who was commissioned by MWest to paint a 15,000-square-foot mural stretching from an alley at 11136 Chandler Boulevard to 11135 Weddington Street. The work, named “Freedom Boulevard Wall,” represents Noir’s largest-ever mural and was unveiled in 2017 as Los Angeles and Berlin rang in their 50th year as sister cities.

Lofts at NoHo Commons offers studio, one-bedroom and live/work units. Apartments have 11- to 14-foot ceilings, track lighting and in-unit washers and dryers, while community amenities include an Olympic-size pool and screening room.

The building’s occupancy has averaged 94 percent over the past decade, according to GPI.

Greystar was tapped to manage the apartment building.

GPI’s North Hollywood acquisition is the latest move in the area for the Los Angeles-based real estate investment firm.

The company recently completed its West Hollywood apartment building, called Nine Thousand One, at 9001 Santa Monica Boulevard. GPI’s also in construction on the six-story, 201-unit Overland & Ayres, located at 2455 South Overland Avenue. GPI and Nahla Capital are also developing the upscale Beverly Hills condo project Rosewood Residences.

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Trammell Crow has won final approval to build a 2.2 million-square-foot development in North Hollywood, with nearly 1,600 homes, offices and retail around the B Line subway terminus.

The Dallas-based developer and its affiliate, High Street Residential, received a green light from the Los Angeles City Council to build the project around the North Hollywood Station at Lankershim and Chandler boulevards, the Los Angeles Daily News reported.

The 15.9-acre project, known as District NoHo, will be developed on land owned by the Metro transit agency and could break ground next year. It will be built in phases for up to 15 years. 

What was billed as a $1 billion transit-oriented project in 2019 has been a decade in the making around the B (formerly Red) Line station.

Plans for District NoHo include 1,572 homes, of which 20 percent, or 311 units, will be set aside as affordable for low-income households, according to the Daily News. Another 55 units will be reserved for moderate-income families.

They’ll be housed in a 20-story highrise with 420 apartments, a 23-story tower with 508 apartments and a 21-story complex with 599 apartments, according to previous reports.

Trammell Crow, a unit of Dallas-based CBRE Group, will also build 580,000 square feet of offices and 105,000 square feet of shops, restaurants and bars, the Daily News reported.

Above-grade parking garages would serve 3,313 cars, including 750 reserved for Metro bus and rail passengers.

District NoHo would rise at 11163-11347 and 11264-11280 West Chandler Boulevard; 11204-11270 West Cumpston Street; 5300-5320 North Bakman Avenue; and 5311-5373 and 5356-5430 North Lankershim Boulevard, according to the Planning Commission, which approved by the project in December.

The project, designed by a consortium to include Gensler, HKS, KFA Architecture and Relm, would include three plazas containing 2 acres of publicly accessible open space. According to its development agreement, District NoHo will include a new art gallery, funding for a two-way bike trail on Fair Avenue, public art, community events and historical plaques.

Once built, District NoHo will be the largest transit-centered housing project in L.A. Metro history, with some apartments built over the train station. 

The NoHo rail station, the third-busiest in the countywide system, will get a new entrance to the B Line subway on the west side of Lankershim Boulevard, plus improvements to the G (Orange) line rapid busway terminus, plus new streets and walkways.

Other improvements include a new set of escalators to the subway, additional bus bays including electric charging ports, a bike hub, a 1.2-acre park, a performance space and completion of a bicycle trail that runs from Burbank to Chatsworth.

— Dana Bartholomew

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Al Leibovic of Yaya Case LLC aims to replace a car repair shop in North Hollywood with a 100-unit apartment building, according to an application filed with the Los Angeles City Planning Department on March 15.

The property, located at 5554 Case Avenue, was purchased for $4.15 million in January 2023.

Leibovic, a healthcare businessman and the former president of Health Advocates, is associated with several multifamily developments.

The NoHo apartment house will rise six stories after the auto shop’s demolition, according to the Planning Department. The project will take advantage of several incentives, including a 70 percent density bonus and affordable housing incentives specified under Transit Oriented Community (TOC) guidelines with floor area percentage increases up to 50 percent according to Tier 3. 

The proposed plans feature a second-floor patio, a roof deck and gym. The building will include 87 parking spots and 10 extremely low-income units, according to the filing.

Built in 1941, the existing building was last altered in 1975 according to PropertyShark. 

The site is located blocks away from the North Hollywood Metro station and bus stops. It falls into the trendy North Hollywood Arts District, the site of numerous apartment projects.

Trammell Crow, a unit of Dallas-based CBRE Group, and its affiliate, High Street Residential, received a green light from the Los Angeles Planning Commission to build a 2.2 million-square-foot development in North Hollywood last year. The property involves nearly 1,500 homes, offices and retail around a subway terminal.

Trojan Storage, a self-storage company based in Redondo Beach, plans to build a 227,000-square feet self-storage unit with a separate residential component at 7528 North Bellaire Avenue in North Hollywood. 

Developers typically pitch mixed-use developments as compounds with residential, office and retail elements, Trojan Storage, headquartered in Redondo Beach, has proposed a self-storage compound with nine apartments. 

The self-storage company filed an application Dec. 1 with Los Angeles City Planning Department to build 227,000-square feet of self-storage with a separate residential component at 7528 North Bellaire Avenue in North Hollywood. The mixed-use residential and storage compound would cover about 4 acres of vacant land around North Bellaire Avenue and Saticoy Street.

The storage segment of the proposed compound would comprise the same size as almost four football fields. Plans filed with the L.A. Planning Department call for two storage buildings. One with about 89,000 square feet would rise to three levels and would be built on a section of the lot near Saticoy Street and the 170 Freeway.  Another 132,000-square-foot storage building, around the same size as a typical Target store, would also rise to three levels.

In a section of land divided from the storage component by a wall and a throughway for vehicles would rise a two-level apartment building. The first floor would be devoted to a 66-space parking garage. At least 10 percent of the spaces would be equipped with EV chargers. The second level would feature nine one-bedroom apartments.

Trojan Storage has pitched plans for mixed-use residential and self-storage before. In 2021, it filed an application to build a more than 163,000 -square-foot storage compound along with 25 apartment units at 13260 Maclay Street in Sylmar. Jordan Architects, headquartered in San Clemente, served as the architect for Trojan Storage’s North Hollywood and Sylmar projects, which are both in the San Fernando Valley.

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