Three months after breaking ground in Koreatown, a tower crane has been raised high above the corner of 6th Street and Vermont Avenue, the most visible sign of progress yet on L.A. County's Vermont Corridor Project.

The $300-million development, which is being built in a public-private partnership with Trammell Crow Company, is highlighted by a 20-story office tower that will serve as the new headquarters of the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health.  The Gensler-designed building will stand 295 feet in height, featuring 468,000 square feet of offices above a podium containing 1,900 parking spaces and 10,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial uses.  Additional parking is being built in a 10-level garage at the back of the project site along Shatto Place.

Following the completion of the new tower, Trammell Crow Company will proceed with the adaptive reuse of the existing DMH headquarters - a 12-story structure located at 550 S. Vermont Avenue.  Plans call for 172 apartments within the mid-rise buildings, as well as 4,700 square feet of ground-floor retail space.  The second phase of the project, which is being designed by Steinberg Hart, will also include a five-story parking structure behind the building that could later be capped with apartments.

A third component of the development will consist of a new senior affordable housing community, to be located across the street at 433 S. Vermont Avenue.  Plans call for 72 residential units in a contemporary low-rise building.

Completion of the full Vermont Corridor Project is anticipated in 2023.

The project will set the stage for additional developments near the Wilshire/Vermont subway station, including the proposed Korean American National Museum, which would rise from a city-owned parking lot across the street, and a 33-story hotel and apartment tower slated to replace a Denny's restaurant.