Four-story, 53-unit development pushing dirt in Santa Monica
At the intersection of Wilshire and Centinela

This post was written by Steven Sharp and originally published on 3/2/2022 on Urbanize Los Angeles

In Santa Monica, developer Cypress Equity Investments has commenced work on a mixed-use apartment complex at the former site of an Aahs! store in Mid-City.

The project, now taking shape at the northwest corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Centinela Avenue, will consist of a four-story edifice featuring 53 studio, one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments on its upper floors, and more than 5,800 square feet of retail and 109 parking stalls located below.  Four units will be reserved as affordable housing, per conditions of approval imposed by the City of Santa Monica.

Oakland-based architecture firm Pyatok is designing the building, which is depicted as a contemporary low-rise structure with a rooftop amenity deck overlooking the intersection of Wilshire and Centinela.

“The natural environment is the source of the project’s design inspiration,” reads a narrative posted to the firm’s website. “Like the mountains (stillness), the building’s mass is formally passive. The travertine tile rain screen wrapping the residential units evokes a character that is earthlike: a piece of land extruded upwards, akin to the dramatic geography nearby. Aretes, ridge-like features carved by erosion which create dynamic shadows along rock faces, are much like a building’s corners, windows and terraces. On this facade, painted metal sunshades and spandrel panels, punctuated by building openings, create similar deep shadows.”

Cypress Equity Investments, based in the neighboring Brentwood neighborhood, is developing at least a half-dozen projects in Santa Monica, including a 521-unit apartment complex slated for Lincoln Boulevard in Ocean Park. The developer is also planning market-rate and affordable housing in the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Echo Park and Pico-Union.