Western Pacific Housing and Las Palmas Housing and Development Corp. have broken ground on a new affordable housing complex just south of Downtown Los Angeles.

The Washington View Apartments, located at 720 W. Washington Boulevard in University Park, will incorporate the frame of the 1920s Pierce Brothers Mortuary - a Spanish Colonial Revival landmark billed as the first full-service funeral home in Los Angeles.  Plans approved in 2018 by the City of Los Angeles call for adding a three-story building to the property, creating 122 apartments reserved for households earning at or below 30, 50, and 60 percent of the area median income.

According to a staff report to the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee, the apartments will come in a mix of studio, one-, and two-bedroom floors plans.  Rents will range from $548 to $1,410 per month.

Coastal Architects is designing the new construction, which is shown in an elevation plan to adopt the Spanish Colonial Revival look of the historic mortuary.

The roughly $48.8-million development is funded through a combination of Measure HHH, tax credits, and a traditional bank loan.

The total cost per affordable housing unit is roughly $398,000.

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