LA Football Club opposes apartment project over sign obstruction

Los Angeles Football Club wants to block construction of a seven-story apartment building just east of its soccer stadium in L.A.’s Exposition Park.

The Major League Soccer franchise has appealed approval for the 40-unit complex at 3801 South Grand Avenue in Historic South Central, a few blocks east of LAFC’s BMO Stadium, Urbanize Los Angeles reported. It would replace a vacant lot.

Plans by property owner Hamid Razipour of Razi Grand Property call for 40 studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments above 2,000 square feet of ground-floor shops or restaurants and parking for 94 cars. The complex would include four affordable units.

Razipour has proposed a similar 12-unit apartment building with ground-floor shops at 3851 South Grand Avenue, just to the south.

LAFC’s appeal, filed in late August after the larger complex was approved by Los Angeles planning officials, argues both projects might have unanticipated impacts to air quality, noise and historic structures nearby.

The appeal also contends the larger development should not have been approved with a Class 32 exemption from the California Environmental Quality Act.

It said the four-month period between submission and approval is not consistent with typical entitlement procedures, and happened without public notices.

In addition to vintage street lights and two historic hotels along Grand Avenue, the appeal highlights the proximity of the projects to the Memorial Coliseum sign — a landmark visible to drivers on the 110 Freeway — at 3843 South Grand Avenue.

A historic resources survey conducted for South Los Angeles in 2012 found that the sign may be eligible for a local historic cultural-monument listing, although it may not meet the criteria for listing in the National or California registers, according to Urbanize.

Photos provided with the appeal show that the proposed apartment buildings, if built, would obstruct views of the Coliseum sign — which also includes a digital advertising board and signage advertising BMO Stadium.

The appeal has been referred to the City Council’s Planning & Land Use Management Committee. 

— Dana Bartholomew

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