Curbed caught up with Cecilia Estolano, CEO of the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) of Los Angeles, who revealed that the CRA is awarding exclusive negotiating agreements with developers for three sites along Washington Boulevard, south of Downtown. What's planned: Housing, big box retail, and smaller neighborhood tenants, among other things. “The idea is to link together South Park and downtown’s residential areas and USC and South LA with this retail corridor,” said Estolano. This "corridor" would extend along Washington Boulevard from Figueroa to San Pedro, and help this neglected stretch (currently a corridor of developments like low-rise cinderblock buildings and auto body shops).
What developers/CRA are talking about on these three sites, respectively (and yes, retail-starved downtowners, Estolano dropped the "T" word: Target, during the conversation):
---An 120-unit affordable housing development with retail on ground floor.
---A big box retail project, a parking garage, and smaller retail tenants, like Starbucks.
---Another larger retail project like a Best Buy, or Bed, Bath and Beyond. Other tenants could include neighborhood-specific retail like a bank or supermarket. Developers are also kicking around the idea of putting a housing element here.
In a follow-up conversation, Jenny Scanlin, project manager for the CRA’s downtown region, told Curbed that “there is a lot of potential to create density in South LA.” All of these projects are at least four years off, according to Scanlin, unless "a developer pushes to move things forward."
· CRA/LA: South LA [Official Site]
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