Actors Fund, Thomas Safran will build $120M affordable housing project

The Actors Fund and developer Thomas Safran & Associates have started construction on their $120 million, 151-unit affordable housing project in Hollywood.

Called the Hollywood Arts Collective, it will include an 86-seat theater, art galleries, rehearsal studio, and office space for nonprofit arts groups, according to the Los Angeles Times. Housing will be offered to artists working in the industry.

The complex will also serve as the Actors Fund’s western region headquarters. The nonprofit group will provide social services from the complex. Construction is expected to wrap in 2024. As its name suggests, the Actors Fund primarily supports people in the entertainment industry.

The group recently renovated an apartment complex in West Hollywood, and operates affordable housing in the New York area and a nursing home in New Jersey.

The Hollywood project received $100 million in funding from the city, the state, the L.A. Development Fund and through low income housing tax credits. Around $5 million has been raised through a philanthropic fundraising effort and the Actors Fund looks to raise the remaining $20 million also through donations.

Hollywood is one of the fastest gentrifying neighborhoods in L.A. The city has also awarded tax-exempt bond dollars to other affordable projects in the area, including $24 million for a 60-unit project that PATH Ventures is developing.

Thomas Safran is working on a handful of other projects around L.A., including a 196-unit development in Watts. [LAT] — Dennis Lynch