First look at Onni Group’s Mid-Wilshire apartment tower

An app has just been released by the LA Department of Urban Planning provides the first glimpse of the high-rise apartment tower that Onni Group hopes to bring to the Miracle Mile.

The Canadian development corporation, which paid around $30 million earlier this year to acquire approximately 1.4 acres of property located at 5350-5376 Wilshire Boulevard, aims to redevelop surface parking at the rear of the site, which runs between Detroit Street and Cloverdale Avenue. The proposed project, named after its side address at 708 Cloverdale, calls for the construction of a 45-story building comprising 419 one- and two-bedroom units over 2,645 square feet of ground-floor dining space. Parking for 443 vehicles would be located in four underground levels and a five-story podium at the base of the tower.

The requested fees for 708 Cloverdale include incentives for transit-oriented communities, allowing for larger and denser development due to the property’s location near the future Wilshire/La Brea subway station and of the existing bus service. In exchange for development premiums, the proposed tower would include 47 very low-income affordable housing units.

MVE+ Partners is designing the tower, which would rise approximately 530 feet tall, culminating in a crown that houses five penthouses. Floor plans also show amenities including a fitness center, sky lounge, and pool deck above the podium. The building, according to the plans, is imagined as a contemporary interpretation of Art Deco architecture, incorporating symmetry, the layering of vertical and geometric lines and the repetition of patterns in its facade.

Onni intends to retain approximately 42,000 square feet of existing commercial uses fronting Wilshire Boulevard, including buildings dating from the 1920s and 1930s. These structures are described as an inspiration for new construction in a design story.

“At 5350-5356 Wilshire Boulevard, [renowned] architect Edward Sibbert’s use of strong vertical lines and Art Deco detailing strongly influenced the [faceted] framing the tower,” reads the story. “As the gateway to Miracle Mile East, the new tower will serve as an elegant beacon that will highlight an entrance to the collection of cultural arts buildings, museums and public art spaces within [the] Miracle Mile.”

The 708 Cloverdale development is the latest in a series of high-rise projects in the works for the Miracle Mile, the 42-story residential tower at 5411 Wilshire Boulevard proposed by Walter N. Marks, Inc. and Onni’s planned redesign of the Wilshire Courtyard complex. Additionally, a mid-sized hotel and condominium complex is planned a short walk east along La Brea Avenue, directly north of the new subway station.

Onni, headquartered in Vancouver, has spent the past decade developing a portfolio of major projects in Los Angeles County. In addition to its Miracle Mile projects, the company is also behind new office and residential developments at several sites in downtown Los Angeles, Long Beach and Hollywood.