Kennedy Wilson has released new information about plans to convert Downtown's fortress-like World Trade Center complex into housing.
The Sky Castle project, which is being developed in partnership with property owner Jamison Services, will hulking 400,000-square-foot building at 350 S. Figueroa Street into 512 one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments. Plans also call for amenities such as co-working space, a resident lounge, and common laundry facilities.
The project will be a fully-affordable housing development, beginning with 241 apartments for residents earning between 30 and 80 percent of the area median income level. Those apartments are expected to begin opening in August of this year. The second phase of the development, which will focus on the tower structure of the building, will include an additional 271 homes.
View looking northwest from Flower StreetHunter Kerhart Architectural Photography
Jamison's new affordable housing division Arden Residential, and Kennedy Wilson’s affordable housing development entity, Vintage Housing, are set to partner on projects that will generate roughly 4,000 homes in the Los Angeles area.
At the World Trade Center site, the developers are making use of adaptive reuse programs adopted by the City of Los Angeles to streamline the conversion of struggling commercial buildings to condominiums and apartments. Jamison Services has emerged 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.
The project also reflects changes to the prospects for Downtown real estate. Prior to the pandemic, Jamison had sought to raze a portion of the World Trade Center site to build a 41-story apartment tower.
Follow us on social media:
Twitter / Facebook / LinkedIn / Threads / Instagram / Bluesky
Looking for affordable housing? Visit lahousing.lacity.org/aahr and housing.lacounty.gov
