The construction of 200 Mesnager, the first mixed-use project to be developed under the restrictions of the Cornfield Arroyo Seco Specific Plan, east of the Los Angeles State Historic Park in Chinatown, has begun.
Led by NBP Capital, a vertically integrated commercial real estate investment platform, focused on investment management, development, construction and hospitality, the project, which acquired a construction permit from the Department of Structure and Safety earlier this month, would replace an industrial building at 200 W. Mesnager Street.
The project features the construction of six and seven-story complexes with a total of 280 apartments above about 20,000 square feet of ground-floor retail and office space, as well as two levels of basement parking for almost 300 automobiles.
A huge courtyard space characterized as a potential meeting space for the developing industrial neighbourhood that surrounds the project site is also planned in addition to facilities such as a yoga studio, a dog park, and a pool on the development’s second level.
The 200 Mesnager is designed by GBD Architects, an interdisciplinary architecture, urban design, interior design and space planning firm, and it is expected to be completed in Spring 2024.
CASP zoning requirements affect the 200 Mesnager project
Due to its adherence to the zoning requirements established by the Cornfield Arroyo Seco Specific Plan (CASP), which defines land-use laws for the neighbourhood to the east of L.A. State Historic Park, the 200 Mesnager project has mostly gone under the radar.
Despite a decade-long construction boom in the broader Downtown region, the CASP, which was lauded for its forward-thinking principles such as the elimination of obligatory parking minimums, has failed to create additional housing, prompting calls for adjustments to the plan.
That is not to suggest that projects have not been developed inside the CASP’s borders. A 318-unit apartment building was recently completed immediately south of the park, albeit under grandfathered rights that exceeded the CASP’s zoning requirements, and another is planned for a long-empty Spring Street property. Similarly, mixed-income homes and workplaces are planned for lands next to the Mesnager site.
