A Costco store could come to the Baldwin Village neighborhood and add 800 apartments and about 400 jobs to the South Los Angeles community, according to renderings released this week.
The apartments would be located above the warehouse store at Coliseum Street and La Brea Avenue, property developer Thrive Living said in a press release.
Artist renderings for the proposed mixed-use project show the familiar Costco Wholesale logo crowned with an apartment complex. The project would be located on a vacant 5-acre lot that previously housed the View Park Community Hospital in Baldwin Village. It would be the first Costco in South Los Angeles
The project would include 800 apartments, including 184 units for low-income tenants, or 23% of the total number of units, developers said.
(Thrive)
No application has been filed with the City of Los Angeles for the project, but it was announced earlier this year and development renders were released on Tuesday. A Costco spokesperson could not immediately be reached for comment.
The site would feature a “state-of-the-art store, offering fresh produce [and] healthy food options for residents,” according to the proponent. The store would also include an optical service counter for glasses, a pharmacy and a delivery service. It is unclear if the site would feature Costco’s traditional food court.
The project would include 800 apartments, including 184 units for low-income tenants, or 23% of the total number of units, developers said. The mixed-use project would consist of 25% retail and 75% housing. That would make the project eligible for incentives under the city’s Transit Oriented Communities program, which allows for greater density and floor space than normally allowed under current zoning rules, according to Los Planning Department guidelines. Angeles.
The project is intended to support families, seniors and other residents of the community, according to Thrive Living, a private national real estate company. The apartments would be marketed as affordable housing for seniors and low-income households, the developer said.
Jordan Brill, a representative of Thrive Living, said the project is helping address the state of emergency on homelessness declared by Mayor Karen Bass on her first day in office.
“Our company is focused on solving the severe housing affordability crisis in Los Angeles, while attracting retailers willing to make a long-term commitment and provide community-serving products and services that enrich the community. life experience of our residents and neighbors,” Brill said in a written statement.
The developer said it would partner with Costco to hire and train local residents for approximately 400 jobs that would be created at the store.
Thrive Living is owned by New York-based real estate company Magnum Real Estate Group. The company bought the adjacent Baldwin Hills shopping center last year for $37.3 million, as reported by real estate website The Registry. This location includes a Ralphs supermarket on Obama Boulevard, just around the corner from the proposed Costco.
The region is a food desert, according to Joe Rouzan, president of the Vermont Slauson Economic Development Corp.
“The lack of quality groceries at affordable prices is a problem that needs to be addressed,” Rouzan said in an email.
He thinks a Costco would give residents more options and be a job generator. He’s also confident that the developer’s vision has already signaled something that other big-box stores haven’t emphasized in the past: the addition of affordable housing.
John Cleveland, chef and co-owner of Post & Beam at nearby Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, describes the neighborhood as tightly knit, but one that has changed in recent years.
“I think for the most part there’s a bit of nervousness around all these changes that everyone knows are happening,” Cleveland said.
As a business owner, he said he knows he benefits from increased traffic in the neighborhood, but he also understands that some South Los Angeles residents may be displaced as rents rise. and that new high-end developments would be built.
“It can be really easy for a Costco to come in and really change the whole neighborhood,” Cleveland said.
