Affordable housing developer plans 100-unit multifamily complex in MacArthur Park

Abode Communities would need to demolish 18 rent-stabilized units

The complex with Abode exec Robin Hughes
The complex with Abode exec Robin Hughes

UPDATED 10:53 am, July 18, 2018

Abode Communities, a developer based in Downtown, has filed plans to build a fully affordable multifamily complex in MacArthur Park.

The nonprofit, which focuses on affordable housing, is requesting approvals to build 100 units, named Grandview Apartments, at 714 S. Grand Street, according to documents filed with the Department of City Planning. That would require the demolition of 18 existing buildings with 36 rent-stabilized units that are already part of a low-rise multifamily complex.

Abode is seeking to benefit from the Transit-Oriented Communities legislation, as the proposed building is less than a quarter-mile away from the Westlake/MacArthur Park Metro station.

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The firm purchased the six-parcel property in January for $7.35 million, property records show.

Robin Hughes, Abode’s CEO, said the new apartments will be affordable to low-income families earning between 30 and 60 percent of the area’s median income. 

Abode builds affordable housing communities around Los Angeles, and has projects in Long Beach, Pasadena, and Van Nuys, among others. In April, the firm was awarded $1.6 million from the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Capital Magnet Fund, which is meant to incentivize affordable housing in low-income neighborhoods.

The developer is one among many seeking to benefit from the TOC laws. A new report published Monday showed that developers have filed to build 1,145 affordable units as part of 112 market-rate developments since the program was enacted 10 months ago. TOC was created by the city as part of Measure JJJ, a successful 2016 ballot initiative that required Los Angeles to create a new program to incentivize affordable housing near mass transit.