19-story affordable housing development planned for Skid Row

A tall new affordable housing structure may be on its way to Skid Row. Plans filed with the city yesterday call for a 19-story mixed use building with 303 units of housing—298 of them set aside for very low-income residents.

The project, planned for a surface-level parking lot at the intersection of Sixth and San Pedro, would also include just under 20,000 square feet of commercial space.

The plans don’t list a developer, but the project site was one of several properties formerly owned by the dissolved Community Redevelopment Agency that the city sold off last year. Weingart Center Association, a homeless service provider headquartered directly across the street, paid $4.025 million for the one-acre parcel.

Weingart is also planning a 14-story tower next door that would replace what’s currently a cafeteria building.

As Urbanize LA points out, the projects are somewhat unusual because of their height. Other affordable housing developments often top out at seven stories—the tallest height permitted for less costly wood frame structures.

This latest project will also require a general plan amendment, allowing the project site’s zoning to be switched from its outdated light manufacturing designation. That change could prove tricky should voters approve the Measure S ballot measure on March 7. The ballot measure would put a two-year moratorium on projects requiring a general plan amendment—including affordable housing projects such as this one.

• 14-Story Supportive Housing Tower Planned For Skid Row [Curbed LA]
• General Jeff's Neighborhood Guide to LA's Skid Row [Curbed LA]
• 150 affordable units planned for Skid Row [Curbed LA]