MJW Wins OK for Santee Court

MJW Investments Inc. recently won entitlements from the city of Los Angeles for Santee Court, its $120 million, 780,000-square-foot mixed-use project that will be built over nine buildings in the Los Angeles fashion district starting this fall.

The action gives the company conceptual approvals for the project, which is planned to include 604 live-work apartment units along with more than 100,000 square feet of retail space. The apartments are aimed at attracting apparel industry workers as well as other downtown area workers of mixed incomes.

Santee Court will be located on three blocks bordered by Los Angeles Street and Maple Avenue and Seventh and Ninth streets.

MJW hopes to start construction in October and deliver the first phase of the project in September 2003. The company recently hosted a design “charette” in which three architectural firms were picked to present their visions of the project. One firm will be picked from that lot next month, said MJW’s Brad Gwinn.

MJW also owns the fashion district’s Gerry Building, which is undergoing a renovation for apparel showroom space that is now 55 percent completed, according to Gwinn. —Robert McAllister