Neighborhood Council To Review Appeal Against 51-Unit Koreatown Project

The Wilshire Center Koreatown Neighborhood Council Thursday evening will review an appeal against approvals for a 51-unit apartment project at 944 Dewey Ave. in Koreatown, its meeting agenda shows.

In December, project applicant and owner RKC Dewey LLC had been awarded project approvals and a California Environmental Quality Act review exemption from the Los Angeles planning department for the five-story apartment project. But the following month, Margarita Lopez of the Coalition for an Equitable Westlake/MacArthur Park filed an appeal application against the project’s CEQA exemption claiming a full review of its cumulative impacts is necessary.

If last year’s planning determination is upheld by the LA Planning Commission this year, the development will move forward with Tier-3 project incentives under the city’s transit-oriented communities program, including a 30-percent reduction in side yard setbacks, among other allowances. It would also utilize the Tier-3 TOC 70-percent density bonus in lieu of a base density allowing only 30 units.

The existing 11,812-square-foot project site holds two single-story and one two-story multifamily building that would be demolished to make way for a new 63-foot-tall building with about 29,000 square feet of floor area. Plans call for 36 studios, 12 one-bedrooms, and three two-bedrooms, along with 31 automobile parking spaces and 48 bicycle spaces.

Also on the team behind the project, which is named Dewey Apartment in planning materials, is LA-based architecture firm Andmore Partners, plans show.