Architectural plans posted by the Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council give a first look at the supportive housing development slated for the former home of the Umeya Rice Cake Company.
In May 2019, Little Tokyo Service Center purchased the 35,000-square-foot property at 414 S. Crocker Street in for $8.4 million in 2019. Less than one year later, the non-profit organization filed an application with the Los Angeles Planning Department to raze an existing industrial building to make way for a mixed-use project featuring 175 apartments, 8,691 square feet of ground-floor retail space, and parking for 19 vehicles. Plans call for a mix of studio, one-, and two-bedroom dwellings, all of which would be deed-restricted very low- and extremely low-income affordable units reserved for homeless persons.
FSY Architects is designing the project, which calls for the construction of an eight-story building. Renderings show a contemporary low-rise structure with a V-shaped footprint wrapping an open-air courtyard.
At the ground level, the project's courtyard would open to Crocker Street, with a food court, social services offices, and a community center flanking the space.
Construction of the 414 Crocker Street project is contingent on the approval of several discretionary entitlements by the City of Los Angeles, including a zone change and a general plan amendment.
Little Tokyo Service Center, which is based out of the neighborhood from which it takes its name, is also partnering on a proposed mixed-use housing development near the Japanese American National Museum with fellow non-profit organization Go For Broke.
Umeya Rice Cake Co., which closed in 2017, was a longtime staple of the Southern California Japanese American community. The company's senbei and arare products were sold as Asian supermarkets throughout the region.
- 414 S Crocker Street (Urbanize LA)
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