An environmental study published by the Los Angeles Department of City Planning offers a first look at a proposed mixed-income housing development near the Blue Line.

The project, which comes from AMCAL Multi-Housing Company, would rise from a 1.4-acre property at the corner of Washington Boulevard and Los Angeles Street, replacing a trio of warehouses, a 31-unit apartment building, and a former printing facility for the Spanish language newspaper La Opinion.  Plans call for a five-story building featuring 112 one, two-, and three-bedroom units above 7,300 square feet of ground-floor retail space and at-grade parking for 75 vehicles.

The proposed apartments would be reserved as affordable housing, priced for households at the extremely low-, low-, and moderate-income levels.  This corresponds to households making between 30, 50, and 80 percent or less than the Los Angeles area median income - roughly $69,000.

VTBS Architects is designing the contemporary podium-type structure, which would wrap its residential levels around an internal courtyard featuring gathering space for residents.

Construction of the new housing is expected to occur over a period of 26 months, pending approvals by the City of Los Angeles.  A timeline is not specified in the environmental report.

AMCAL's project would rise less than a half-mile west of a similar affordable apartment complex completed by Meta Housing Corp. in 2016.

Also planned nearby is a controversial mixed-use high-rise complex known as the Reef, which would replace two surface parking lots at Washington and Broadway with a hotel, condominiums, and apartments.