Handsome new affordable housing complex the Coronel makes its Hollywood debut

After nearly a decade in development, the Coronel, a new affordable apartment complex from nonprofit developer Hollywood Community Housing Corporation, made its official debut in East Hollywood last week.

Spanning a .75-acre lot between North Hobart Boulevard and North Serrano Avenue, two blocks from the Hollywood/Western Red Line station, the project adds 54 one-, two-, and three-bedroom units priced between $488 to $1,354 per month for households that make between 30 to 60 percent of the area median income.

Designed by Culver City-based Killefer Flamming Architecture, the development comprises two four-story modern apartment buildings plus a pair of Pueblo-style bungalows adapted from an existing two-story house built in the 1920s. Originally located on Hobart, the vintage home was dismantled, restored, converted into two residential units and a community room, and relocated to the opposite block to better match the character of the surrounding street—North Serrano Avenue is part of a historic district of bungalow courts.

“This is really the way to go, especially in an area where you have historic resources,” Los Angeles City Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell noted at the Coronel’s grand opening on Thursday. “We don’t have to sacrifice those—we can incorporate them into new projects, and that’s how we can grow as a city.”

The controlled-access complex features such amenities as a community garden, a reading room, a play area with climbing wall, a spacious courtyard with barbecue stations and seating areas, and subterranean parking.

Not surprisingly, interest in the new units is intense—according to Hollywood Community Housing Corporation’s executive director Sarah Letts, about 800 applications had been submitted as of last week. Available units will be awarded to eligible applicants through a lottery system.