Astani Wants New Westlake Mixed-Use to Link DTLA and Ktown

Down but nowhere near out developer Sonny Astani is making his way back into the game with a new mixed-use project proposed for a Home Depot-adjacent site in Westlake, a block from his 2006 Vero building. The new project at Valencia and Wilshire (to be called the Valencia) will rise six stories and have 220 units, 10,000 square feet of groundfloor retail and restaurants along Wilshire, a rooftop pool and deck, and a screening room, according to a press release. The release also notes that the Valencia will be three blocks from a Red Line stop and "at the edge of the new Wilshire Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project" (more on that dedicated-lane project). Astani says "It has been a dream of mine to one day see Downtown and Koreatown connected, plus, with transit projects that will further unite them to the Westside." He's just closed on the one and a half acre Valencia site, which right now is home to empty commercial buildings and a parking lot. According to the LA Times, work is set to start in April and be finished by late 2014.
· Sonny Astani Archives [Curbed LA]