Linear park planned for Slauson Corridor of South L.A.

Open space, recreation Center part of public-sector effort to redevelop old railroad right-of-ways

Slauson Connect Recreation Center (Paul Murdoch Architects)
Slauson Connect Recreation Center (Paul Murdoch Architects)

The City of Los Angeles plans to build a recreation center and park along a railroad corridor in South L.A.

The city has showcased plans for the Slauson Connect Recreation Center, to be built on a strip of land along the north side of Slauson Avenue between Budlong and Normandie avenues, Urbanize Los Angeles reported.

The site, which is 1,250 feet long and 81 feet wide, is 2.3 acres, with 60 percent dedicated to the Slauson Connect project and the rest to a bike trail built by the Metro transit agency.

The rec center and linear park dovetails with a Metro effort to turn a defunct freight rail right-of-way through South Los Angeles into a five-mile Rail to Rail transportation corridor.

Slauson Connect would include a low-slung building that includes a childcare center with afterschool programs, classrooms and a new rooftop garden.

Plans also call for a 22-car parking lot, plus a new park featuring a garden, a multipurpose plaza, picnic tables, public restrooms and a children’s play area.

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Paul Murdoch Architects, based in Carthay, designed the rec center out of prefabricated steel modules, with drought tolerant landscaping within the linear park.

Slauson Connect follows in the wake of several other projects which have sought to transform the largely industrial surroundings of the freight railway along Slauson Avenue, which is known as the Harbor Subdivision.

Officials of the City of Los Angeles have also taken steps to rezone adjacent sites to force new development to open onto Slauson. A groundbreaking was also held earlier this year for a new park on LADWP-owned land a short distance east at Slauson’s intersection with Figueroa Street.

[Urbanize Los Angeles] – Dana Bartholomew

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