In the midst of a reelection campaign, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is making the rounds at real estate projects across the region to tout the potential of the recently-approved citywide adaptive reuse rodinance.
Her latest stop was the World Trade Center in Downtown Los Angeles, a fortress-like office complex at 350 S. Figueroa Streets which spans a full city block that also fronts on Flower Street, 4th Street, and 3rd Street. Jamison Services, Inc., which owns the nearly 400,000-square-foot property, is currently in the process of converting its interior into 512 apartments - all of which would be deed-restricted affordable housing.
“These projects represent the kind of innovation we are applying to break away from the status quo that has stunted L.A.’s housing production and driven up rents for decades,” said Bass in a news release. “Work from home and other shifts mean there is a large supply of office space that we can use for housing, but for too long, outdated city regulations stood in the way. We’re now unlocking tens of thousands of housing units to conversion, which can be much faster and cost-effective than new construction.”
The original adaptive reuse ordinance, which is credited with reviving Downtown Los Angeles in the early 2000s, is also a lynchpin of the City's effort to expand its housing stock. Planning officials project that the ordinance could enable more than 43,000 new homes by transforming vacant or underused commercial building which are at least 15 years old.
Jamison Services has been perhaps the most prolific developer of adaptive reuse projects in the City of Los Angeles over the past decade, having transformed more than 10 buildings between Koreatown and Downtown. The company began work earlier this year on a project that will convert a 33-story office tower at 1055 W. 7th Street into 686 apartments.
Prior to the pandemic, Jamison had sought to raze a portion of the World Trade Center site to build a 41-story apartment tower.
All photography courtesy of Hunter Kerhart Architectural Photography - visit www.HunterKerhart.com for more architectural imagery.
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Looking for affordable housing? Visit lahousing.lacity.org/aahr and housing.lacounty.gov
