Less than six months after we last checked in, construction has topped out at a mixed-use low-income housing project in the unincorporated community of Florence-Firestone.
Located at 1600-1616 E. Florence Avenue, the five-story development from AMCAL Multi-Housing, Inc. is rising on a property that was once home to the Florence Library. Plans call for 109 apartments - priced for households earning at or below 40 and 60 percent of the area median income - above 10,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space and parking.
Rents at the new development will range from $509 to $1,309 per month, according to a staff report to the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee.
The $48-million development is being designed by VTBS Architects, and is depicted as a contemporary low-rise structure. A 2,000-square-foot workforce development center is planned on its ground level.
AMCAL had originally planned to develop the Florence Apartments with a new home for the Florence Library on its ground floor. However, that plan changed in 2017, when Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas instead proposed to relocate the library to a different site one mile west. See this report from Streetsblog for background on the issue.
The development site is located less than a block north of the Firestone Phoenix development, a permanent supportive housing complex now being built by A Community of Friends.
- 1600-1616 E Florence Avenue (Urbanize LA)
