Construction is now complete for LA Plaza Village, a mixed-use housing development just north of Olvera Street in Downtown Los Angeles.
The project - built by Trammell Crow Company subsidiary High Street Residential, the Cesar Chavez Foundation, and Principal Real Estate Investors - is a public-private partnership with the non-profit organization LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes and Los Angeles County, which owns the land. The two-building complex includes 355 apartments - including 70 affordable housing units - with 43,000 square feet of ground-floor retail and restaurant space.
Architecture firm Johnson Fain designed LA Plaza Village, which includes four buildings ranging from five to eight stories in height. Intended as a modern interpretation of a Mexican hillside town, the development is arranged across two city blocks. A pedestrian paseo cuts through the site, linking the newly-restored Fort Moore Memorial on Hill Street with Olvera Street and Union Station to the south. A large Sycamore tree is located at the center of the paseo, inspired by the historic El Aliso tree that once stood nearby.
The buildings are adorned with murals by four local artists - Judithe Hernandez, Miguel Angel Reyes, Jose Lozana, and Barbara Carrasco - each of with celebrates the Mexican-American experience. Public art agency NowArt LA worked with the developer in the hopes of spurring a new mural corridor along Broadway.
Though leasing is still underway for LA Plaza Village's ground-floor commercial space, several tenants have already been identified.
The Cesar Chavez Foundation - which is also developing affordable housing in West Adams, North Hollywood, and Westlake - will move its headquarters to a 4,000-square-foot space at the property early next year.
Additionally, LA Plaza Cocina - a museum, retail, and teaching kitchen dedicated to Mexican food - will occupy at 2,500-square-foot space starting in 2020.
Construction of LA Plaza Village occurred over a period of four years, during which time more than 3,400 people worked on the project.
- LA Plaza Village (Urbanize LA)