Affordable developer upsizes mixed-use project in Lincoln Heights

A developer that focuses on supportive housing is upsizing the commercial component for its big residential project planned in Lincoln Heights.

The nonprofit Decro Group wants to build a 97-unit mixed-use development that will now include 70,000 square feet of medical and commercial space, the organization’s CEO Ted Handel confirmed. Culver City-based Decro lined up financing for the project earlier this year. Initial plans in April called for just 30,000 square feet of medical and commercial space.

The nonprofit recently filed plans with updated changes, property records show.

Called the Brine, the development will rise at 1829 N. Hancock St. It would include 180,000 square feet of residential space. The commercial space will include a medical complex near the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center campus.

All of the units in the five-story building would be affordable, with 49 set aside as permanent supportive housing units. That refers to units with access to on-site medical and mental health services.

The site is eligible for density bonuses and other incentives as part of Los Angeles’ Transit Oriented Communities program. The program provides incentives to encourage developers to build near transportation hubs.

New Generation, a partnership of Los Angeles, Enterprise Community partners, and the Local Initiative Support Corporation, provided a combined $24.6 million in financing. In January, Decro acquired an assemblage of several lots for the project, paying for $4.5 million.

Handel said the nonprofit also is working with Daylight Community Development to build modular housing for the homeless in North Hollywood, Van Nuys and Koreatown. The partners secured $23.8 million in city funding for that project. The money is part of the $1.2 billion voter-approved bond that was meant to build 10,000 affordable units in Los Angeles.