Design Commission Approves Concept Design for Four-Story Multi-Family Building Along Mar Vista Avenue

The Design Commission on Tuesday unanimously approved the concept design for the four-story, multi-family building at 130-140 Mar Vista Avenue. 

The approval was made based on the finding that the applicant successfully addressed the majority of the comments made by commissioners during the preliminary consultation held in August 2021.

The proposed building will be L-shaped. It is modern in architectural style with flat roofs, and simple rectangular forms.

The project involves the demolition of four non-historic structures, the removal of eight private trees, including two trees that are protected under the Tree Protection Ordinance, and the construction of a 32,000 square foot building that has one level of subterranean parking that can accommodate 27 parking spaces.

A multi-family building in a Mediterranean Revival style can be found west of the project site. A two-story, multi-family brick vernacular style building constructed in 1929 can be found at the east.

A multi-family development constructed in 2007 designed in a contemporary style can be found north of the project site while a Mid- Century Ranch style two-story apartment building constructed in 1959 can be found south of the project site.

“I think this is a really nice project, I really like this one,” Commissioner Julianna Delgado remarked. 

Delgado however asked the applicant to consider another color for the fiber cement as she believes the current color is not compatible with the look of the other buildings nearby. 

“Since you did such a beautiful job of landscaping, have you considered using another color that might go better with the landscaping — the green tones or earth tones instead of the blue.” 

Commissioner Philip Chiao also asked the applicant to consider other colors if they want the building to blend in, as he pointed out that all the surrounding buildings have a warm color.

“If you want to blend in there you may want a warmer tone rather than a cool tone.” 

Chair Yolanda Sepulveda’s comment differs from Delgado and Chiao. 

“I think the intent of having multiple colors is a good one,” she said. 

“It was kind of cool to see the fact that the tiles almost emulated a tree dapple… and so perhaps that’s a direction to kind of explore the next iteration of colors, understanding that the blue is not hitting everybody the same way. Perhaps in the next exploration there is something cool to that combination of tiles and this idea of dapple on to the building. That could be a cool next version to see.” 

“The overall sentiment is that you’ve got a pretty strong project that is well designed. All staff comments seem to hit every single major concern,” Sepulveda added. 

Commissioners Jose Noel Toro, Kevin Litwin and Robert Carpenter were absent when the decision was made.