Koreatown | Walker Tower Conversion Brings 495 Apartments to 3550 Wilshire Boulevard

Koreatown‘s glass‑tower at 3550 Wilshire Boulevard has begun its next chapter. A July 2025 permit issued by the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety authorizes owner Jamison Services to convert the entire 20‑story office tower—completed in 1968 as Paramount Plaza—into housing. Plans prepared by Rockefeller Partners Architects call for 495 apartments carved out of the existing floor plates, with no addition to the building’s height or overall square footage.

Inside, the design reorganizes the tower’s 31‑foot structural grid into a mix of studios, one‑bedrooms and two‑bedrooms, while corner bays pick up two‑level lofts where extra ceiling height is available. Every office floor above the ground‑level shops will be stripped to the steel frame before new residential layouts, kitchens and mechanical risers are installed; existing street‑facing retail tenants remain open throughout the build‑out. Jamison’s project page brands the undertaking as Walker and lists a slightly larger envelope—507 homes—reflecting the original planning allowance; the permit on file caps the first phase at 495 units.

495 Apartments to 3550 Wilshire Boulevard Interior via Rockefeller Partners Architects

Because the structure predates modern seismic requirements, the permit pairs the use change with an ASCE‑41 retrofit. Shotcrete shear walls and new collector beams will be inserted around the core, bringing the 1960s steel skeleton up to current life‑safety standards without altering the curtain‑wall exterior. That reinforcement doubles as support for a new rooftop amenity deck, where plans show a perimeter‑overflow pool, barbecue stations and small garden beds replacing mechanical plenum space that once sat idle.

Walker is one of more than a dozen Wilshire‑corridor offices Jamison is steering through Los Angeles’s expanded adaptive‑reuse rules. By reusing an existing high‑rise rather than building from scratch, the project adds nearly 500 new homes—including compact “micro‑lofts” and larger two‑bedrooms—without pouring new foundations or shading the boulevard with cranes.

Construction is expected to run roughly two years, positioning the first residents to move in by 2027 and giving Koreatown a refreshed mid‑century landmark repurposed for the city’s housing needs.

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