In May 2019, Little Tokyo Service Center purchased the former home of the Umeya Rice Cake Company for approximately $8.4 million, simultaneously announcing plans to redevelop the site with affordable housing. Now, a case filing with the City of Los Angeles sheds light on the non-profit developer’s vision for the property.
The approximately 35,000-square-foot property - currently improved with a 1970s industrial building - spans between Crocker and Towne Streets just south of 4th Street. Plans call for razing the existing structures to make way for the development of a mixed-use complex featuring 175 units of affordable housing above 8,691 square feet of ground-floor retail space and a 19-car subterranean parking garage.
The proposed development would require several discretionary entitlements, including a zone change and a general plan amendment.
Current plans are larger than what Little Tokyo Service Center had envisioned when it purchased the Umeya Rice Cake facility. At that time, the Rafu Shimpo reported that the project would consist of somewhere between 120 and 150 housing units and 13,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space.
Little Tokyo Service Center, which is based out of the neighborhood from which it takes its name, has developed approximately 1,000 units of affordable and permanent supportive housing.
Its other ongoing projects include a proposed mixed-use housing development in coordination with fellow non-profit organization Go For Broke that would replace a City-owned parking lot at the corner of Temple and Alameda Streets.
Little Tokyo Service Center is also planning affordable housing and commercial uses on property adjacent to Metro's Vermont/Santa Monica subway station.
Interested in finding affordable housing? Visit housing.lacity.org.
