Abode Communities scores $38M in LA funds for Harbor City project

Abode Communities has won a $37.9 million grant to build 81 affordable apartments for homeless residents in Harbor City.

The nonprofit developer based in Downtown Los Angeles secured the funding from the city to build the apartment complex at 25820 South Western Avenue, Urbanize Los Angeles reported. It would replace a single-story commercial building.

Funding for the project known as the Western Landing includes $23.9 million in tax-exempt multifamily conduit revenue bonds and $14 million in taxable bonds. It will supplement $8.3 million in Measure HHH funds for supportive housing approved by voters in 2016.

In February, the state also kicked in $1.5 million to help pay for the project from $825 million to fund 58 affordable complexes of nearly 10,000 apartments across the state

Plans for the four-story supportive housing complex composed of prefabricated modular units south of Pacific Coast Highway include 81 studio apartments – of which 80 will be 300-square-foot studios for residents, plus a two-bedroom unit for the manager. Parking would serve eight cars. 

Western Landing would include a courtyard and a laundry facility, a community room, a computer room and on-site offices for staff and service providers

The cost of the complex is $49.6 million, or just over $613,000 per unit, according to a Los Angeles City Housing Department report, with the high cost attributed to high interest rates and relocation costs for commercial tenants of the property.

Abode Communities has developed other affordable projects in the South Bay, including a revamp of the Dana Strand public housing complex in Wilmington and the modular Beacon Landing apartments in San Pedro, according to Urbanize.

Other Abode modular projects, funded through Measure HHH, are proposed for Reseda and Chatsworth. 

In September, Abode broke ground on converting three century-old medical lab and clinic buildings in Glendale into 40 affordable homes for senior adults.

In May, Abode Communities teamed with AvalonBay Communities to pitch plans to build 1,200 apartments – a quarter of them affordable – at a former Marine Corps Air Station in Tustin. Also, it’s building a 90-unit supportive housing complex for homeless and disabled residents in San Pedro.

In 2021, Abode and AvalonBay were chosen to redevelop the 8-acre West Los Angeles Civic Center site, a sprawling mixed-use project that will include homes, offices, shops and restaurants.

— Dana Bartholomew