The West L.A. Sawtelle Neighborhood Council's Planning and Land Use Management Committee will soon review a proposal to replace a collection of small commercial buildings near the Expo Line with a mixed-use apartment complex.

The project site, located at 12001-12021 Pico Boulevard, is located a half-mile south of Expo/Bundy Station. An entity affiliated with the Santa Monica-based real estate firm West Coast Investors filed plans in June 2018 to construct a six-story building at the property, featuring 80 apartments with 4,117 square feet of ground-floor retail space and 82 parking spaces at grade and on one basement level.

DFH Architects is designing the project, which would be clad with plaster and zinc and feature tiered building heights on its northern property line to provide a transition toward the adjacent residential neighborhood. The podium-type building is split into two wings surrounding an elevated courtyard, with additional open space provided at the roof level.

West Coast Investors is seeking entitlements with incentives through the Transit Oriented Guidelines, including a height increase in exchange for setting aside eight apartments as affordable housing at the extremely low-income level.

The project would rise just across the street from a similar development now under construction that will feature 100 apartments and ground-floor retail in a five-story edifice.

Farther west along Pico, a similar mixed-use project with TOC incentives is planned just north of the Santa Monica Freeway.