Earlier today, the Los Angeles City Planning Commission voted in support of a local real estate firm's proposal to redevelop a corner lot in Leimert Park with multifamily housing and ground-floor commercial space.

View looking south from StockerAFCO Design

The project, which is planned by Axiom Real Estate Investments, calls for razing a vacant commercial building and single-family dwelling at the southwest corner of Crenshaw Boulevard and Stocker Street to make way for a new six-story building containing 64 apartments above 5,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space and a 45-car garage.

Project entitlements approved by the Commission include density bonus incentives permitting increased height, as well as reductions to zone-required open space and setbacks.  Axiom will set aside seven of the proposed studio, one-, and two-bedroom apartments as very low-income affordable housing in exchange for the incentives.

AFCO Design is the architect of the project, named for its address at 3600 Stocker Street, which is depicted in renderings as a contemporary podium-type building.  Proposed exterior finishes include stucco and terra cotta panels, with a mural planned for its southern face.

View looking northwest from Crenshaw BoulevardAFCO Design

The project is a latest in a series of proposed mixed-use buildings and multifamily residential buildings near future Crenshaw/LAX Line stops in the Baldwin Hills and Leimert Park neighborhoods, including a 124-unit apartment complex slated for the opposite corner of Crenshaw and Stocker.

Across Stocker Street, plans were approved in 2018 to redevelop portions of the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza mall with housing, offices, and new retail uses.  Developer Capri Capital Partners has since opted to sell the property rather than move forward with that project, but has thus far seen two prospective sales fall through in the face of opposition from the community-based Downtown Crenshaw organization, which has made its own bid to buy the mall.

3600 Stocker StreetGoogle Street View

The 3600 Stocker development would rise on a property that was formerly home to the Liquor Bank, which shuttered after the Los Angeles City Council revoked its liquor license in 2017.  At the time, the Los Angeles Sentinel reported that the neighboring residents had long complained that the business encouraged public drinking, sold alcohol to minors, and spurred robberies, violence, counterfeit good sales, and gang activity.

Axiom, the developer behind the newly-approved project, is also planning multifamily housing on a currently-vacant site located four blocks west on Stocker Street.