A groundbreaking ceremony was held last week for a large apartment complex near the I-405 Freeway in Carson, reports The Daily Breeze.

Evolve South Bay, slated for a vacant lot at the corner of Main Street and Del Amo Boulevard, will stand four stories in height and feature 300 one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments.  The project is considered the first residential component of a proposed 300-acre mixed-use complex called The Boulevards at South Bay.

MBK Rental Living, the developer of Evolve, will build a walking path around the perimeter of the 11.8 acre site.  Other planned amenities include a fitness center, a swimming pool, outdoor fitness equipment, and a dog park.

Summa Architecture is designing the project, which will be clad in stucco.

Carson Mayor Al Robles described Evolve South Bay and similar projects as key to attracting amenities such as restaurants, shops, and grocery stores.

“The complaint we get from developers is that Carson doesn’t have the required (residential) density to justify these kind of developments," Robles told the Daily Breeze.

The largely industrial city reports that it has nearly 1,000 residential units under construction and another 3,500 units currently in the entitlement pipeline.

The projects may be having their desired effect.  Across Del Amo Boulevard from Evolve South Bay, construction is underway for a 465,000-square-foot outlet mall on a former landfill which was once slated for an NFL stadium.

Despite its scale, Evolve South Bay is not the largest residential development under construction in Carson.  That title goes to Union South Bay, a 357-unit mixed-use project now rising at the corner of Carson Street and Avalon Boulevard.