Olympia Medical Center is proposing to build a housing and retail project on a parking lot near the hospital. (photo by Aaron Blevins)

Olympia Medical Center officials are trying to turn a parking lot near the hospital into a 44-unit residential structure with small office or retail space on the ground level.

Dr. Shahram Ravan, the president of Olympia, said the plan is to construct rental properties for potential hospital employees, while offering retail space for a company that would complement Olympia. He said there are also plans for senior housing.

“We’d like to attract some quality employees from outside the area who can’t afford housing,” Ravan said.

With the proximity of the property to the hospital, it could be attractive to potential employees as well as seniors, he said. It would also spruce up the hospital campus, Ravan added.

“What we have right now [at that site] is not the image we’d like to have for the hospital,” he said. “It’s a nice project. I think it’s a beautiful project.”

While the project is by no means finalized, hospital representatives have been meeting with local neighborhood councils and residents associations to gauge community opinion about the potential development. Ravan said those meetings will continue until residents and hospital representatives come up with something “more palatable” for the community.

Thus far, one floor has been shaved off of the plan and the residential units have been reduced from 49 to 44, the CEO said. He said Olympia has made many revisions and will continue taking resident suggestions into account. The project has been a year in the works.

“The whole thing, ultimately, would come before the (Los Angeles) city council,” said planning deputy Doug Mensman, of Councilmember Tom LaBonge’s office.

Mensman said the proposal concerns the northside of Olympic Boulevard between Alandele Avenue and Spaulding Avenue. As it stands now, the structure would be just more than 50,000 square feet, rising up four stories in one corner and three on another, he said.

Developing the existing parking lot would require a zoning change, as the lot currently has commercial, multi-family residence and single-family residence zoning, Mensman said. He added that the proposed zoning change would be to residential accessory zoning, which would allow for a mixed-use structure.

Mensman said no reduced parking requests have been filed. Ravan said the proposal includes three levels of subterranean parking, with extra parking spaces for guests and visitors.

With the zoning changes, the proposed project would come before the city’s planning commission before being considered by the council. Mensman said no public hearings have been scheduled as of yet.