A new development of subsidized affordable housing could soon replace a vacant commercial building owned by the Glendale Housing Authority.
The proposed project, as detailed in a staff report to the Housing Authority, calls for razing a vacant commercial building at 900 E. Broadway, making way for a new five-story building featuring 92 units of affordable housing for families above a two-level basement parking garage.
Conceptual renderings of the development by KFA Architecture depict a contemporary low-rise building with an M-shaped footprint used to provide open-air courtyards. Plans also call for vacating a vehicular alley to the east of the property, which would be converted into a pedestrian paseo.
The property, which also includes neighboring buildings at 920 E. Broadway, formerly served as a school for disabled children. After the school ceased operations and offered its facility for sale, the Housing Authority acquired the roughly 1.6-acre site in October 2019 for $12.1 million with the intention of preserving it for affordable housing development.
One year later, the staff report to the Housing Authority recommends entering into an exclusive negotiating agreement with Meta Housing Corp., which emerged as the leading candidate among several other respondents to a request for proposals.
While the item was originally scheduled for approval at the October 27 meeting of the Authority, a final decision was postponed for an additional week, with a request that the project be revised to split some of the three-bedroom apartments to create additional one- and two-bedroom units.
Pending approval of an agreement with Meta Housing, construction of the apartment complex is expected to begin in Fall 2021, with completion anticipated by the end of 2023.
- Glendale (Urbanize LA)
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