Mixed-use project would see 79 residential units on edge of USC campus

Developer Core Spaces is looking to build a 79-unit mixed-use project at the edge of the University of Southern California’s main campus, and is seeking to take advantage of the city’s transit-oriented communities program.

The Chicago-based student housing developer wants to build the seven-story project for 3800 S. Figueroa Street, according to Urbanize. The property will include 9,800 square feet of ground floor retail space, and the developer has set aside eight units as “extremely-low-income.”

Because it is including affordable housing in the project, Core Spaces requested an additional height bonus through the city’s Transit-Oriented Communities incentive. The program allows developers with projects near transit to increase the size of their construction and reduce required parking, in exchange for building affordable units. Property owners and developers have increasingly sought to utilize the program since its inception in September.

The South Figueroa Street site is now a single-story retail space and parking lot totaling around 21,000 square feet. The most recent property records list a family trust as the owner.

The project appears to be Core Spaces’ first one in Los Angeles, but the firm has worked in around two dozen U.S. markets, building mostly upscale student housing. Austin, Texas-based American Campus Communities paid Core Spaces nearly $591 million in October for seven of its buildings near campuses around the country, totaling 3,776 beds. [Urbanize] — Dennis Lynch