An initial study published by the Los Angeles Department of City Planning has shed new light on developer Carmel Partners' plan to build a mixed-use complex in the Arts District.

The project site, located at 520-532 S. Mateo Street, is currently developed without a two-story warehouse.  The San Francisco-based real estate firm intends to raze the industrial building and replace it with a 13-story, 150-foot tall building featuring 600 live/work apartments, 20,000 square feet of office space, 30,000 square feet of shops and restaurants and 10,000 square feet of cultural space.  Up to 11 percent of the total apartments, or 66 units, would be set aside for very low income households.

Parking for 990 vehicles would be situated in a three underground levels, and two above-grade levels masked with residential units and commercial space.

Elevation plans conatined within the initial study portray a U-shaped concrete structure wrapping around a podium amenity deck.  The building's ground plane would be activated with commercial space along Mateo and Santa Fe Avenue, as well as along a new pedestrian paseo which would flank the southern edge of the property.  A second paseo would cut between the building and the 4th Street Bridge, providing access to two-story live-work units.

Additional amenities would be located within a rooftop deck.

W. PA Works Partnership Architecture, a Portland-based firm, is desiging the proposed development.

Carmel's project was among the first in a recent wave of proposed developments in the Arts District, highlighted by a potential $2-billion mixed-use complex from the real estate firm Suncal.

A budget and timeline for the development have not been revealed.

The property is located midway between a four-story office building under construction adjacent to the 4th Street Viaduct and the At Mateo retail and office center.