234-unit apartment complex that repurposes old bank headed for Toluca Lake

Plans for a 234-unit apartment complex that will repurpose a Chase bank right off the 134 freeway in Toluca Lake were approved Tuesday by the Los Angeles City Council’s planning and land use management committee.

The existing bank building at Lankershim Boulevard and Riverside Drive would be repurposed as 55 apartments—eight of them affordable units—and more than 8,500 square feet of commercial space. A new 179-unit apartment building, also with ground-floor commercial space, would be built on the large parking lot that encircles the bank.

Renderings show the new building as five stories tall, with a landscaped roof area and balconies in front of some units. The development is designed by TCA Architects.

In OK’ing the plans, which still need City Council approval, the committee also denied an appeal brought by a neighbor who claimed that the environmental review for the development was inadequate and that the number of apartments it would create—234 in total—would “significantly and adversely” affect the neighborhood.

The project was first proposed in 2016. The developer is listed as Frederick Delijani of Sterling Real Estate Group LLC.