The Los Angeles planning department has given approvals to plans for a seven-story, 42-unit apartment project at the northeastern corner of the intersection of Friar Street and Vesper Avenue, according to a determination letter posted by the city of Los Angeles late last month.
Proposed for 14553 – 14557 Friar St., the Van Nuys project will replace a single-story, 1,875-square-foot commercial building with a 37,338-square-foot mixed-use residential building holding studios through two-bedroom apartments. It is being led by site owner Los Rubanenkos LLC, a company state business filings show is managed by Roy and Adam Rubanenko.
Approvals given by the planning department include Tier-4 project incentives under the city’s transit-oriented communities program, including a 55-percent density increase and 25-percent reduction in required open space. Per TOC requirements, the developer will reserve five apartments for extremely low-income households.
Plans call for four studios, 10 loft units, 12 one-bedrooms, and 16 two-bedrooms over an approximately 1,000-square-foot ground-floor commercial space and 42-stall underground parking garage. The Friar Street development would also offer about 3,750 square feet of open space found on balconies and a roof deck, along with 51 bicycle spaces, plans show.
Los Rubanenkos LLC acquired the Van Nuys project site for about $1.28 million in 2014, according to Los Angeles County property data.
The developer is joined by project representative Heather Lee and architect John Friedman of The Ketter Group, according to application documents.
