Watt Companies may enter into a six-month negotiating period with Metro and Los Angeles County to construct a mixed-use development on two properties next to the Expo/Crenshaw light rail station.
The proposed development, according to a post on the Source, is conceived as two mid-rise building featuring 492 residential units and 47,500 square feet of "community-serving space" including commercial and retail units. Plans call for 15 percent of the residential units - or 73 total - to be set aside as affordable housing at the very low-income level, reserved for those earning 50 percent or less than the area median income.
Other components of the project would include a grocery store and restaurant space - targeted at locally-owned businesses - and a business incubator space. Mobility hubs for bicycle and carshare connections would be provided, as well as nearly three acres of public open space.
Metro's staff report indicates that the design team will include Belzberg Architects, RELM Studio, and Harley Ellis Devereaux.
The subject properties are owned by Metro and Los Angeles County and are one of a handful of potential transit-oriented developments surrounding the new Crenshaw/LAX Line. LINC Housing and National Core are planning a smaller 150-unit affordable housing complex near a future station in Fairview Heights.
Scheduled to open in 2019, the Crenshaw/LAX Line will connect the Green and Expo Lines via the communities of Baldwin Hills, Inglewood, and Westchester. A future extension, approved through Measure M, would push the line north toward Hollywood.
