A four-story, 155-residential-unit collection of mixed-use buildings spanning an entire city block in the Funk Zone is preparing to make its way through the city review process, after being postponed twice since June.
The project has been in the works in some form since 2014, when developer Neil Dipaola announced plans for a “funky” take that he said would fit perfectly in the Funk Zone, which at the time was still in its early freeform stages of becoming the local hotspot that it is now.
Back in 2014, Dipaola was one of the hottest new names in local land development; he had led the charge for The Loop in Isla Vista, a modern residential mixed-use apartment building that earned a Governor's Award for Environmental and Economic Leadership; later, he teamed up with partners Matthew and Wally Hofmann to install the city’s first Airstream hotel on De la Vina Street, a feat that was achieved without displacing any of the mobile home park’s working-class tenants.