A year-and-a-half after the Umeya Rice Cake Company ceased operations, the senbei maker's longtime home is slated to be revived as affordable housing.

The Rafu Shimpo reports that non-profit developer Little Tokyo Service Center has purchased the former Umeya property at 414 S. Crocker Street - a nearly 36,000-square-foot site which is currently developed with a two-story industrial building.  Tentative plans call for the construction of a multi-story structure featuring between 120 and 150 units of affordable housing - of which would be set aside for currently homeless persons - with 13,000 square feet of ground-floor space for community programs, commercial space, and supportive services.

The proposed development would be the first 100 percent affordable housing development in the Little Tokyo area in over two decades, according to the Rafu Shimpo.

LTSC is also behind plans for a mixed-use affordable housing development adjacent to the Japanese American National Museum, a project that is being developed in partnership with the Go For Broke National Education Center, and is now in the midst of construction at the Terasaki Budokan sports and community center on Los Angeles Street between 2nd and 3rd Streets.

The Umeya property is located a block west of a cluster of buildings that the Coalition for Responsible Community Development intends to also convert to affordable and permanent supportive housing.

Interested in finding affordable housing? Visit housing.lacity.org.