Affordable housing rises next to 1920s Pierce Brothers Mortuary

Just south of Downtown Los Angeles, vertical construction is wrapping up for a new affordable housing complex from WPH Holdings, LLC.

View looking southeast from Washington BoulevardWPH Holdings LLC

The Washington View Apartments, which WPH acquired from another developer in 2018, is rising directly south of the historic Pierce Brothers Mortuary at 720 W. Washington Boulevard in University Parks. The new construction includes a three-story building that will feature 122 apartments reserved for households earning at or below 30, 50, and 60 percent of the area median income.

According to a staff report to the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee, the apartments will come in a mix of studio, one-, and two-bedroom floors plans. Rents will range from $548 to $1,410 per month.

JAG Architects is designing the apartment complex, which has an estimated budget of $48.8 million, amounting to a per-unit cost of approximately $398,000.

Completion is on pace to occur in December 2021, according to a representative of WPH Holdings.

Construction of the Washington View ApartmentsUrbanize LA

The Pierce Brothers Mortuary, built in the 1920s, is a Spanish Colonial Revival landmark billed as the first full-service funeral home in Los Angeles. Page & Turnball is serving as the project's preservation architect, working on the restoration of the roughly 90-year-old building.

WPH Holdings, which is based in Downtown, is also behind plans for senior and family affordable housing developments on side-by-side properties in Sun Valley.