Recent years have seen a slew of surface parking lots in Koreatown give way for mixed-use developments.  Now investors are coming for parking structures.

Yesterday, plans were filed with the City of Los Angeles to construct a 132-unit apartment complex at 635 S. Western Avenue.  The proposed development would add five floors atop the four-level Wilshire Center Financial Garage, creating a nine-story building.  City records indicate that the project would preserve an existing 900-square-foot retail stall.

The project's applicant is listed as the Los Angeles-based firm Wil-West, Inc.

The parking garage, located across the street from Metro's Wilshire/Western Station, was built in 1967 to serve tenants of an adjacent 13-story office building.  Both were designed by prominent Los Angeles architecture firm Welton Becket and Associates.

The project would require a zone change to the western half of the property, which is currently limited to use as automobile parking.

A similar plan to add apartments above an existing parking garage is also in the works at 6th Street and Kenmore Avenue.