Less than six months after we last stopped by, vertical construction is largely complete at Koreatown's $300-million Vermont Corridor project, and glass and metal are beginning to climb the exterior of the high-rise structure.  

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The 20-story building, located near the intersection of 6th Street and Vermont Avenue, will become the new headquarters of the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health upon completion.  The boxy, 295-foot-tall building will contain 468,000 square feet of offices above a podium containing roughly 1,900 parking spaces and 10,000 square feet of ground-floor retail.  

Gensler is the architect of the office tower, which is being built by Trammell Crow Company

The 20-story tower is the first phase of the County's Vermont Corridor project, which will also include the adaptive reuse of the Department of Mental Health's existing headquarters - a neighboring 12-story structure slated to become 172 apartments with street-level retail space.  That project will be developed by Trammell Crow subsidiary High Street Residential.  

Construction is already in progress for the Vermont Corridor's third component - a 72-unit affordable housing complex across the street.

All phases of the Vermont Corridor project are expected to be completed by Fall 2023.

The Department of Mental Health facility sits diagonally across the intersection of 6th and Vermont from a public parking lot that is slated to be redeveloped with the long-awaited Korean American National Museum.  A groundbreaking for the Morphosis-designed institution is scheduled to occur this Fall.