A staff report points to East L.A. Community Corporation as the recommended developer for Metro-owned properties near the Mariachi Plaza Gold Line station in Boyle Heights.

The development sites, which span a combined 1.08 acres at the southwest and southeast corners of Bailey Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, would be slated for a mixed-use project consisting of affordable housing, retail uses, cultural space and a public park under the submission by ELACC.  Renderings and site plans show a five-story building - designed by Y&M Architects - featuring 60 studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, priced for households making between 30 and 50 percent of the area median income.  In addition to approximately 8,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space and cultural amenities, the property at the southeast corner of Bailey and Pennsylvania would be improved with a 6,000-square-foot pocket park.

Total development costs for the ELACC proposal are estimated at approximately $27.5 million.

A second proposal for the property from the Cesar Chavez Foundation had called for a larger 80-unit project that would have offered apartments priced for households making between 30 and 60 percent of the area median income.

An 18-month exclusive negotiating agreement with ELACC will be considered at the upcoming meeting of the Metro Board's Planning and Programming Committee.  If approved by the committee, it will move on to the full board for approval.

Earlier plans for the Mariachi Plaza properties had called for a mixed-use development highlighted by commercial space and an eight-story medical office tower.  That proposal was eventually discarded following widespread community backlash.

Across the street, a vacant lot currently controlled by CRA/LA is also slated for a mixed-use affordable housing complex, this one featuring 43 apartments and a ground-floor laundromat.