LOS ANGELES — Developer BRE Properties and Bernards, a commercial builder with five offices in the Southwest, have broken ground on a $105 million mixed-use project in Los Angeles.

The groundbreaking follows three years of pre-construction at the site, which is located at the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and La Brea Avenue.

When complete, the 800,000-square-foot community will include 480 residential units atop 44,000 square feet of retail space. The building will also feature two-and-a-half levels of underground parking.

Amenities will include two pools, fitness facilities and themed facades on the street-facing sides of the structure.

According to Steve Pellegren, vice president of preconstruction services for Bernards, the community is the first residential development in the region to go under construction since the housing crisis began four years ago.

"This is a high-density project, directly in the middle of one of the city's hottest areas and we are excited to have the opportunity to work on such a unique and spectacular project," says Pellegren.

The property site is comprised of an entire city block of the Los Angeles Miracle Mile, and includes 3.3 acres. The community is also one of the first projects to take advantage of the city's new planning policy that allows for the replacement of obsolete structures to encourage higher density in urban infill areas, according to Thomas Cox, a principal at Los Angeles-based TCA Architects, which designed the project.

The site was previously occupied by a one-story abandoned bank that was later converted into a Korean church.

The project is slated for completion in April 2014.

— Liz Burlingame