It has taken the better part of a decade to complete the Solair Wilshire mixed-use tower atop a Metro Purple Line subway stop on Wilshire Boulevard. But it’s been worth the wait.
The $165 million development by Koar Wilshire Western LLC includes 186 condos and 40,000 square feet of retail space, and is viewed as one the most important L.A. County Metropolitan Transportation Authority transit-oriented projects to date.
Solair is in the heart of Koreatown a stretch of Wilshire Boulevard between Western and Vermont avenues that teems with every walk of life, from office worker to thousands of Korean American residents.
They now will be served by a project that includes stores such as Haagen-Dazs, Verizon Wireless, and a mix of local tenants including a cigar and wine bar, salon and restaurants all mere feet from the subway portal. There will be about 20 stores in all, with two vacant retail spaces left.
Matthew May, president of May Realty Advisors of Sherman Oaks, a leading retail brokerage, said the project is noteworthy for its heavy emphasis on retail in the middle of a bustling neighborhood.
“As opposed to just being another project, it’s got a very dense urban component. And if you look at the density within three miles, there is probably half a million people,” said May. “I like the location of it.”
The potential of the 90,000-square-foot site was a big attraction for Koar Wilshire, a venture of Beverly Hills real estate investment partners Bruce Rothman and Laurent Opman of Koar Institutional Advisors LLC, and Christopher Pak, owner of Koreatown architecture firm Archeon International Group.
“All of us really envisioned this as one of the true models of the future of Los Angeles,” said Pak, who designed the project. “Once you come into Solair and live here you really don’t have to go into your car to enjoy an event in downtown or even Hollywood. Here’s the perfect example of where you can live, work and play.”
Koar Wilshire first got involved in the project in 2001, when it was given rights to negotiate a development agreement with the MTA and the L.A. Community Redevelopment Agency after the agencies called for proposals to develop the corner.
Koar Wilshire leased a portion of the site from the MTA and then bought property from other landowners to complete the parcel, which takes most of a city block. By 2006, it had assembled the property and began construction.
The condo tower, and about 30,000 square feet of retail space, is on land that Koar Wilshire owns; the adjacent outdoor retail plaza and portion of a parking lot are on land owned by the MTA with the developer holding a long-term lease.
The residences are high-end affairs. Two- and three-bedroom units range from 1,400 square feet to 1,700 square feet, in addition to 12 penthouses that range from 2,500 square feet to 3,000 square feet. Most units have balconies that offer sweeping views of the city. Two-bedroom units start at roughly $780,000 and three-bedroom condos start at roughly $1 million. Pak said the development has attracted mostly Korean Americans and empty nesters, with 70 units in escrow with nonrefundable deposits.
“In this market, we are very happy with that, given that we started sales in March 2008, at the beginning of the thick of this recession,” he said.
OUTSTANDING PROJECT
Solair Wilshire
Intersection of Western Avenue and Wilshire Boulevard, Koreatown
Description: 22-story building with 40,000 square feet of retail space. 18,000-square-foot pool deck on the seventh floor.
Developer: Koar Wilshire Western LLC
Noteworthy: The building doesn’t have a fourth or 13th floor, the former omitted because of an Asian superstition and the latter omitted because of a Western superstition.
