Affordable housing plans make gains west of downtown.

AFFORDABLE housing in the Westlake district, just west of downtown Los Angeles, has taken two steps forward.

The forward motion came as Meta Housing Corp. assembled a 1.3-acre site at Lucas Avenue and Emerald Drive for $2.2 million, with plans for an 85-unit affordable housing complex. Meta Housing, which has developed 10,000 residential units in Southern California, could break ground as early as next May, according to Chris Maffris, project manager at Meta Housing, who estimated the total cost at about $20 million.

Three buildings, with 13 apartment units, will be razed to make way for the development. Meta Housing finances its projects with a combination of state tax "credits and funds from the LA. Housing Department.

Meanwhile, four blocks south, the L.A. Unified School District has altered its plans to aid in the construction of an affordable housing component to its new Gratts New Primary Center.

The LAUSD had a memorandum of understanding with non-profit group A Community of Friends in which the two would purchase adjacent properties, with the district designing the school's common areas so they could be accessed by the residential project.

But LAUSD President Jose Huizar said that would not be happening at the Lucas Avenue and Fifth Street site.

"I'm not sure we could say the deal fell through, but there was no concrete agreement" said Huizar, noting that the district's plan would involve acquiring less land than would a collaboration with ACOF. "We can save $4.5 million by using the district's plan--that can be used for other early education centers."

While the school and 54-unit housing project will still share some common area in the form of open green space, that common area will be smaller under the district's revised plan to purchase less of the block not owned by A Community of Friends, said Dora Leong Gallo, its executive director.

"All the components are there but we were hoping the master design was integrated better." said Gallo, whose organization has owned an acre of the block for about two years and who estimated the cost of the project at about $13 million. "We thought the whole block would be master planned."

But David Abel, managing director at L.A.-based advocacy group New Schools Better Neighborhoods, which negotiated the memorandum, was not pleased with the turn of events.

"To make collaborations real, there ought to be commitment," he said. "We ought to honor a professional, collaborative management process if we're going to positively impact these neighborhoods."

On the Block

Equity Office Properties Trust is putting two Westside properties totaling more than 430,000 square feet on the market.

Marina Business Center in Marina del Rey and Sepulveda Center in Palms are being put up for sale by the Chicago-based real estate investment trust. The buildings became part of EOP portfolio with its $7.3 billion acquisition of Spieker Properties Inc. in 2001

Unlike the bulk of EOP's holdings, the two recently listed properties are not located in established office cores. Among its other L.A. County holdings are the Santa Monica Business Park, Two California Plaza and SunAmerica Center.

"They felt it was a good time to sell the buildings," said Chris Houge, senior vice president at CB Richard Ellis, who, with CB's David Doupe, Larry Krasner and Rick Buckley, has the listing on the properties. "(Equity) feels they didn't fit in the long-term with the remainder of their portfolio."

EOP has not ascribed prices to the two, but the 261,000-square-foot Marina Business Center, which is 90 percent occupied with tenants such as Nike Inc, and biotech company CaneerVax Corp., could fetch between $50 million and $55 million, according to Joseph Gabbaian, senior vice president at Grubb & Ellis Co.

Gabbaian, who specializes in Westside office investments, said the 171,000-square-foot Sepulveda Center could sell in the $22 million range.

"The Marina Business Center was one off the most successful buildings during the Internet boom, but even after that blew over, it's done well," he said. Sepulveda Center is a harder sell because it's the only high-rise office building in the immediate area. "Sepulveda's an odd duck."

Ringing Endorsement

Choong Hyun Mission Church has purchased the 132,000-square-foot building at 4565 Colorado Blvd. near Atwater Village from California National Bank for $10.5 million. It will relocate to the site from Eagle Rock next month.

The building, on 7.6 acres, had been the headquarters for Fidelity Federal Bank until California National Bank bought it last year, after which the site was deemed excess property.

"What do you do with an empty office building?" asked Tom Bohlinger, senior vice president at CB Richard Ellis, who with CB's Kevin Duffy and Sean Sullivan, represented the seller. "You sell it to a church."

The church will lease out a small portion of the property to office tenants, according David Carl, broker at RE/MAX Commercial Brokerage, who represented the church.

Staff reporter Danny King, can be reached at [phone] ext. 230, or at [e-mail].