Infill Multifamily — Mid-City Los Angeles

A boutique developer acquired a 0.6-acre assemblage in Mid-City with a base entitlement of roughly 60 units. The thesis required closer to 110 to underwrite acquisition pricing. Conventional Site Plan Review would have introduced 18+ months of discretionary risk.

• Base zoning yielded ~45% fewer units than underwriting required
• Adjacent single-family parcel created shadow-band and setback exposure
• Council office had recently signaled concern about a comparable project two blocks away

• Confirmed TOC Tier 3 eligibility through a transit stop verification and routed the project ministerially
• Restructured the unit mix to qualify for the 80% density bonus while maintaining operating yield
• Coordinated with architect on a step-back massing that resolved the SFR adjacency without losing leasable floors
• Briefed the council office before the application was filed to remove avoidable late-stage friction

• Approved at 112 units — within 1 unit of underwriting
• Ministerial pathway eliminated CEQA exposure and discretionary appeal risk
• Total entitlement timeline of 11 months from engagement to clearance