The Los Angeles County unveiled its plans to redevelop older government buildings located along Vermont Avenue into mixed use spaces. The project will reportedly include residential towers, office spaces and a new headquarters for the Department of Mental Health.
The Board of Supervisors finalized its vote Wednesday to launch a bidding request for the planned Vermont Avenue re-development, reports the Los Angeles Daily News. County supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas championed the redevelopment, which will revitalize more than 1 million square feet of county office space located along the stretch of South Vermont Avenue. According to Ridley-Thomas, the project will introduce an "innovative approach" to transform older government building into modern facilities that "would serve the public in a variety of ways."
The county supervisor added that the South Vermont re-development will help to create jobs, revitalize communities, as well as generate new revenue sources for the county. Aside from the various opportunities that the re-development will generate, Ridley-Thomas also stated the need to maintain transparency during the whole project. He said, "Extraordinary care and diligence must be taken to preserve fairness, ensure efficiency, provide equal opportunity and reinforce public trust."
According to Los Angeles' Curbed, the County's re-development proposal will see several Vermont Avenue government buildings between the 4th and 6th Streets in Koreatown to be on the chopping block. The three re-development sites are located at 510, 526, and 532 South Vermont; 550 South Vermont and 3175 W. Sixth Street; and at 433 South Vermont. The first site, which measures around 1.6 acres, will house the future new headquarters of the Department of Mental Health (DMH). Initial renderings done by SRK Architects, envisioned the new DMH to be located inside a 20 story building which will also feature 400,000 square feet of office space, along with street level retail spots and parking area. Currently, the properties occupying the first site is an old building used by the County's Department of Parks and Recreation, parking space and a "two-story abandoned structure with roof."
The Curbed report further mentioned other development plans for site two which will soon feature a proposed high-rise buildin, for either office or residential space. Meanwhile, site three will either be developed as a "project with the highest economic benefit to the County," as suggested by the county's request for proposal, or an affordable housing site for seniors. The LA county officials are reportedly looking for only one developer to handle the re-development project.
