The owner of The Derby restaurant in Arcadia wants to build more than 200 apartments around the century-old steakhouse popular with horse racing fans.
Elite Real Estate Holdings, based in Mission Viejo, has filed plans to expand the restaurant at 233 East Huntington Drive and build a 214-unit, mixed-use apartment complex, the San Gabriel Valley Tribune reported.
It would replace a parking lot and a one-story restaurant building that once housed a Souplantation at 301 East Huntington Drive, just east of a future L Line and less than a mile from the Santa Anita Park horse track.
The proposed plan calls for retaining The Derby’s signature gable roof, stained glass windows, red booths, exterior signage and horse racing memorabilia, while adding a new covered porte cochere, according to Urbanize Los Angeles.
The six-story apartment complex would include 205 market rate units and nine affordable apartments. Of those, 55 would be studios, 110 one-bedroom and 49 two-bedroom flats, most with balconies.
The size of the apartments would range from 480 square feet for the studios to 1,260 square feet for two-bedroom units with dens. A rendering depicts an L-shaped charcoal-and-white building around The Derby.
The complex, designed by [au]workshop of Colorado, would include a 4,800-square-foot rooftop deck with trees, a swimming pool, a 6,500-square-foot landscaped courtyard, herb garden and shared outdoor cooking space.
Inside, it would contain a fitness center, coworking space and yoga room. The bottom floor would include unspecified space for shops and restaurants. Parking would serve 414 cars.
The Derby restaurant, built in 1922, is ineligible for a spot on the National Register of Historic Places or the California Register of Historical Resources, an architectural historian found after an evaluation. Elite Real Estate Holdings was founded by Dustin Nicolarsen, a co-owner of The Derby, according to state business records.
Entities affiliated with the project include Top Realty, based in Canada, and Los Angeles-based investment bank Salem Partners, according to Urbanize.
Construction would depend on the approval of a general plan amendment and a zone change by the City of Arcadia.
The Derby development would follow Arcadia’s approval of Trammell Crow Residential’s Alexan development, which calls for 319 apartments a few blocks east. Both are within walking distances of Metro’s Arcadia Station.
— Dana Bartholomew
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