clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile
The Crenshaw Line will offer rail service to Leimert Park, Baldwin Hills, Hyde Park, and Inglewood.
By Liz Kuball

16 developments set to sprout along the Crenshaw Line, mapped

Development is simmering along the rail line, which is slated to open next year

View as Map
The Crenshaw Line will offer rail service to Leimert Park, Baldwin Hills, Hyde Park, and Inglewood.
| By Liz Kuball

With Metro’s Crenshaw Line scheduled to open next year, properties along its path are attracting attention from developers.

The line will offer rail service to the neighborhoods of Leimert Park, Baldwin Hills, Hyde Park, and Westchester, as well as the city of Inglewood. Ultimately, the train will connect to LAX via a people mover tram.

The neighborhoods have already begun changing in anticipation of the new amenity, with more changes expected to come. For many residents, displacement and cultural erasure—and how to push back against both—are top of mind, especially with the roughly $2 billion Inglewood NFL stadium planned to open the year after the rail line.

Here, a map of a few notable projects along the under-construction light rail line. The projects include a lot more affordable housing than projects along, say, the Expo Line, but include quite a few large buildings with market-rate apartments too. They will all help define how the neighborhoods around the Crenshaw Line will look in the years to come.

Read More

Destination Crenshaw

Copy Link

Running along Crenshaw Boulevard between 48th and 60th streets, this open-air museum will acknowledge the contributions of black Angelenos. It will also highlight Crenshaw’s role as the “Main Street” of LA’s black community. Designed by Perkins + Will and Studio-MLA, it will combine elements of a park and gallery with elements of local history.

The 1.3-mile-long project is also a response to community concerns about the impacts that constructing and operating the line at street-grade would have on local businesses, and about the larger social and economic effects that the line could bring to South LA.

A ceremony for a groundbreaking is slated for February 29.

Destination Crenshaw

Dorset Village redevelopment

Copy Link

The 1940s-era garden apartments ​of Dorset Village are owned by billionaire Jeff Greene, who plans to raze the 206 rent-stabilized apartments that are there now​ and replace them with 782 new units. Most of the new units will be market-rate, though they will be placed under the city’s rent-stabilization ordinance. The 147 income-restricted units in the project will be available to families with low- to extremely-low incomes, between $25,050 and $66,800 a year for a family of two.

A rendering of a white, seven-story apartment project with a border of trees with pink flowers. Photo by Bianca Barragan, rendering by HKS

Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza redevelopment

Copy Link

Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza is slated to be radically transformed into a mixed-use complex. The city has approved redevelopment plans that call for 961 new condos and apartments, along

with a 400-room hotel, and new offices, restaurants, and retail space.

But CIM Group announced in April that it has agreed to purchase the mall—one of the largest in Los Angeles and a fixture in the Crenshaw area, for a reported $100 million—and cofounder Shaul Kuba tells the Los Angeles Times that the company does not plan to build housing at the site.

The original plan was slated to cost $700 million and would have included some affordable residential units for residents with low- and moderate-incomes. Local activist group Crenshaw Subway Coalition has organized against the project.

Pastel illustration of people mingling ad eating outdoors at tables under umbrellas in a landscaped plaza with a large fountain in the center. They’re surrounded on two sides by two-story buildings filled with shops and restaurants. Via Department of City Planning

4300 Degnan Blvd. and 3416 West 43rd St.

Copy Link

Less than one block from the future Leimert Park station, the city is exploring redeveloping two parking lots that straddle Degnan Boulevard with housing, retail, or office space. A 2016 report noted that residents would be “the highest performing use and most likely to succeed on the subject sites,” but it’s not yet clear what those projects could look like.

An aerial photo showing Leimert Park Village, a largely commercial area of lower-rise buildings bisected by major streets. Google Map

Hope on Hyde Park

Copy Link

Hope on Hyde Park, developed by Aedie Real Estate Group, would bring 98 units of affordable and supportive housing to Crenshaw at Hyde Park Boulevard. The $40 million project, which would be built out of modular, pre-fabricated pieces, is getting more than $9 million of funding through Measure HHH. The development is designed by KTGY Architecture + Planning.

Via KTGY Architecture + Planning

3600 Stocker Street

Copy Link

Near the future the future Martin Luther King Jr. station, a proposed five-story mixed-use apartment project is planned. The project would rise just south of the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza mall and include 69 apartments—six of them for tenants with very low incomes—plus 52 parking spaces. It’s being developed by Axiom Real Estate Investments.

A photo taken from the street of the site that shows it is occupied by a commercial building and parking now. Google Maps

Fairview Heights Apartments

Copy Link

Nonprofit developers LINC Housing Corporation and National CORE are planning a four-story development here, near the Fairview Heights station in Inglewood.

The Fairview Heights Apartments will contain 101 income-restricted housing units, including 50 supportive housing units for homeless residents, and 5,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space. The units would range from one- to three-bedrooms. The KFA-designed project broke ground in January, and is expected to be complete in 2021, according to a release provided by the architects.

Courtesy of KFA

6604 West Blvd

Copy Link

Not far from the Fairview Heights station, the nonprofit A Community of Friends is developing a 64-unit project for low and very low income households. Designed by FSY, the $26 million apartment building would rise four stories along West Boulevard.

Via Department of City Planning

Crenshaw Crossing

Copy Link

First announced in late 2017, the Crenshaw Crossing project would take the form of two buildings on two blocks—one owned by Metro, the other by Los Angeles County—on either side of Crenshaw Boulevard south of Exposition.

Updated plans for the project, seen on a project website, detail a 401-unit development with 81 affordable units “at a range of affordability levels.” Other uses in the project include 40,000 square feet for retail and 502 parking spaces. Watt Companies is developing the project, which tops out at seven stories tall. The project’s design team includes Belzberg Architects, SVA Architects, and landscape architecture firm RELM.

Via Crenshaw Crossing

District Square

Copy Link

The West Hollywood-based Charles Company originally planned this shopping center near the start of the Crenshaw Line as a massive retail space anchored by a Target. It was supposed to be complete in 2013. Before it could get off the ground, the project pivoted, including a senior living component, removing the Target, and incorporating far less commercial area. That was in 2015.

In 2018, the project reappeared with a 573 market-rate residential units—more than three times what was initially proposed—plus shops, a grocery store, and restaurants.

Then last year, the project began to implode. In May, the Real Deal reported that the Charles Company was marketing a ground lease for the property. The Los Angeles Times reported that the company had defaulted on $6.3 million in federal loans on the project, and its founder was arrested on charges he had bribed an LA County official.

In July, the Crenshaw Subway Coalition appealed the project, citing concerns that a market-rate project would be unaffordable to current residents and would lead to displacement. The coalition also questioned how the project could proceed in light of the bribery charges. In November, the area’s planning commission effectively killed the project. Councilmember Herb Wesson Jr., who represents the area, said that he would not support it unless it included a “significant” number of affordable units. The site remains empty.

Via department of city planning

Inglewood Market Gateway

Copy Link

The six-story complex planned here would be entirely market-rate, with 242 units over nearly 50,000 square feet of retail space and parking for 438 cars, even though it would be about a block away from from the downtown Inglewood station. The project broke ground late last year.

3518 Crenshaw

Copy Link

This TOC project would hold 81 units, nine of which are designated for extremely low-income households, and about 3,900 square feet of ground-floor commercial space. The developer is listed as CNP 107, an LLC linked to Washington DC-based RSE Capital Partners. The plans are awaiting city approval.

Via Department of City Planning

4242 Crenshaw

Copy Link

Here, close to the future Leimert Park light rail station, a development is planned with 124 units—11 of them for very low income households—and 6,000 square feet of space for storefronts. There would also be 60 parking spaces. The project is working its way through the city’s approvals process.

Via Department of City Planning

6320 Crenshaw

Copy Link

Approved for a site near the Hyde Park station, this development would hold 24 apartments and about 670 square feet of retail space.

Via Department of City Planning

6515 Crenshaw

Copy Link

Also near the Hyde Park station, Woodland Hills-based Martin Property Investments has been approved to build a a five-story, 24-unit apartment building.

Via the Department of City Planning

6527 Crenshaw

Copy Link

The developer GTM Holdings has the go-ahead to build a five-story building with 43 units, including five affordable units, and 1,500 square feet of retail space along the ground floor.

Via Department of City Planning

Loading comments...

Destination Crenshaw

Running along Crenshaw Boulevard between 48th and 60th streets, this open-air museum will acknowledge the contributions of black Angelenos. It will also highlight Crenshaw’s role as the “Main Street” of LA’s black community. Designed by Perkins + Will and Studio-MLA, it will combine elements of a park and gallery with elements of local history.

The 1.3-mile-long project is also a response to community concerns about the impacts that constructing and operating the line at street-grade would have on local businesses, and about the larger social and economic effects that the line could bring to South LA.

A ceremony for a groundbreaking is slated for February 29.

Destination Crenshaw

Dorset Village redevelopment

The 1940s-era garden apartments ​of Dorset Village are owned by billionaire Jeff Greene, who plans to raze the 206 rent-stabilized apartments that are there now​ and replace them with 782 new units. Most of the new units will be market-rate, though they will be placed under the city’s rent-stabilization ordinance. The 147 income-restricted units in the project will be available to families with low- to extremely-low incomes, between $25,050 and $66,800 a year for a family of two.

A rendering of a white, seven-story apartment project with a border of trees with pink flowers. Photo by Bianca Barragan, rendering by HKS

Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza redevelopment

Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza is slated to be radically transformed into a mixed-use complex. The city has approved redevelopment plans that call for 961 new condos and apartments, along

with a 400-room hotel, and new offices, restaurants, and retail space.

But CIM Group announced in April that it has agreed to purchase the mall—one of the largest in Los Angeles and a fixture in the Crenshaw area, for a reported $100 million—and cofounder Shaul Kuba tells the Los Angeles Times that the company does not plan to build housing at the site.

The original plan was slated to cost $700 million and would have included some affordable residential units for residents with low- and moderate-incomes. Local activist group Crenshaw Subway Coalition has organized against the project.

Pastel illustration of people mingling ad eating outdoors at tables under umbrellas in a landscaped plaza with a large fountain in the center. They’re surrounded on two sides by two-story buildings filled with shops and restaurants. Via Department of City Planning

4300 Degnan Blvd. and 3416 West 43rd St.

Less than one block from the future Leimert Park station, the city is exploring redeveloping two parking lots that straddle Degnan Boulevard with housing, retail, or office space. A 2016 report noted that residents would be “the highest performing use and most likely to succeed on the subject sites,” but it’s not yet clear what those projects could look like.

An aerial photo showing Leimert Park Village, a largely commercial area of lower-rise buildings bisected by major streets. Google Map

Hope on Hyde Park

Hope on Hyde Park, developed by Aedie Real Estate Group, would bring 98 units of affordable and supportive housing to Crenshaw at Hyde Park Boulevard. The $40 million project, which would be built out of modular, pre-fabricated pieces, is getting more than $9 million of funding through Measure HHH. The development is designed by KTGY Architecture + Planning.

Via KTGY Architecture + Planning

3600 Stocker Street

Near the future the future Martin Luther King Jr. station, a proposed five-story mixed-use apartment project is planned. The project would rise just south of the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza mall and include 69 apartments—six of them for tenants with very low incomes—plus 52 parking spaces. It’s being developed by Axiom Real Estate Investments.

A photo taken from the street of the site that shows it is occupied by a commercial building and parking now. Google Maps

Fairview Heights Apartments

Nonprofit developers LINC Housing Corporation and National CORE are planning a four-story development here, near the Fairview Heights station in Inglewood.

The Fairview Heights Apartments will contain 101 income-restricted housing units, including 50 supportive housing units for homeless residents, and 5,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space. The units would range from one- to three-bedrooms. The KFA-designed project broke ground in January, and is expected to be complete in 2021, according to a release provided by the architects.

Courtesy of KFA

6604 West Blvd

Not far from the Fairview Heights station, the nonprofit A Community of Friends is developing a 64-unit project for low and very low income households. Designed by FSY, the $26 million apartment building would rise four stories along West Boulevard.

Via Department of City Planning

Crenshaw Crossing

First announced in late 2017, the Crenshaw Crossing project would take the form of two buildings on two blocks—one owned by Metro, the other by Los Angeles County—on either side of Crenshaw Boulevard south of Exposition.

Updated plans for the project, seen on a project website, detail a 401-unit development with 81 affordable units “at a range of affordability levels.” Other uses in the project include 40,000 square feet for retail and 502 parking spaces. Watt Companies is developing the project, which tops out at seven stories tall. The project’s design team includes Belzberg Architects, SVA Architects, and landscape architecture firm RELM.

Via Crenshaw Crossing

District Square

The West Hollywood-based Charles Company originally planned this shopping center near the start of the Crenshaw Line as a massive retail space anchored by a Target. It was supposed to be complete in 2013. Before it could get off the ground, the project pivoted, including a senior living component, removing the Target, and incorporating far less commercial area. That was in 2015.

In 2018, the project reappeared with a 573 market-rate residential units—more than three times what was initially proposed—plus shops, a grocery store, and restaurants.

Then last year, the project began to implode. In May, the Real Deal reported that the Charles Company was marketing a ground lease for the property. The Los Angeles Times reported that the company had defaulted on $6.3 million in federal loans on the project, and its founder was arrested on charges he had bribed an LA County official.

In July, the Crenshaw Subway Coalition appealed the project, citing concerns that a market-rate project would be unaffordable to current residents and would lead to displacement. The coalition also questioned how the project could proceed in light of the bribery charges. In November, the area’s planning commission effectively killed the project. Councilmember Herb Wesson Jr., who represents the area, said that he would not support it unless it included a “significant” number of affordable units. The site remains empty.

Via department of city planning

Inglewood Market Gateway

The six-story complex planned here would be entirely market-rate, with 242 units over nearly 50,000 square feet of retail space and parking for 438 cars, even though it would be about a block away from from the downtown Inglewood station. The project broke ground late last year.

3518 Crenshaw

This TOC project would hold 81 units, nine of which are designated for extremely low-income households, and about 3,900 square feet of ground-floor commercial space. The developer is listed as CNP 107, an LLC linked to Washington DC-based RSE Capital Partners. The plans are awaiting city approval.

Via Department of City Planning

4242 Crenshaw

Here, close to the future Leimert Park light rail station, a development is planned with 124 units—11 of them for very low income households—and 6,000 square feet of space for storefronts. There would also be 60 parking spaces. The project is working its way through the city’s approvals process.

Via Department of City Planning

6320 Crenshaw

Approved for a site near the Hyde Park station, this development would hold 24 apartments and about 670 square feet of retail space.

Via Department of City Planning

6515 Crenshaw

Also near the Hyde Park station, Woodland Hills-based Martin Property Investments has been approved to build a a five-story, 24-unit apartment building.

Via the Department of City Planning

6527 Crenshaw

The developer GTM Holdings has the go-ahead to build a five-story building with 43 units, including five affordable units, and 1,500 square feet of retail space along the ground floor.

Via Department of City Planning