9900 Venice Boulevard Uses Podium Design to Bridge Residential Scale in Palms

A newly completed mixed-use development at 9900 Venice Boulevard introduces a seven-story residential building to a transitional stretch of Palms, where mid-rise housing, commercial corridors, and municipal boundaries intersect. The project occupies a long, shallow parcel along Venice Boulevard, requiring a building form that could reconcile ground-level activity with a consistent residential structure above.

The project was developed by Geneva Street Partners, with architectural design by HBA Architects.

9900 Venice Boulevard Site via Google Maps

The development is organized around a podium configuration that consolidates retail and vehicle access at the base of the building while lifting residential floors above the street. This approach allows parking and commercial space to be accommodated without interrupting the continuity of the upper residential levels, which are arranged in a uniform stack across the length of the site. The podium functions as a spatial buffer, separating public street uses from private living areas while maintaining an active edge along Venice Boulevard.

Above the podium, the residential portion of the building is organized inward toward a central courtyard rather than outward toward the surrounding streets. Circulation corridors, unit entries, and balconies are oriented toward this shared open space, establishing the courtyard as the primary organizing element of the project. This internal focus provides daylight, airflow, and visual relief across the length of the building while reducing reliance on exterior articulation alone to define residential character.

Shared space within the project is distributed vertically rather than concentrated at a single level. The courtyard anchors the residential floors at mid-building, while rooftop decks extend communal space upward, creating a layered system of outdoor areas. Together, these spaces form a continuous network that connects residents to both interior and elevated open areas without fragmenting the overall massing of the structure.

The building contains 54 studio, one-, and two-bedroom apartments above approximately 3,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space, with vehicle parking accommodated within a structured garage integrated into the podium. Six of the residential units are designated as deed-restricted affordable housing.

Rather than relying on dramatic massing shifts or exterior gestures, the completed building at 9900 Venice Boulevard uses its podium and courtyard arrangement to mediate between commercial frontage and residential scale. In doing so, the project demonstrates how internal organization and sectional planning can play a defining role in shaping multifamily housing along one of West Los Angeles’s busiest corridors.

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