Former Hawthorne Nursery Site to Become Townhomes

The famed Hawthorne Nursery closed its greenhouse doors for good in February, marking the end of a 98-year era in the South Bay city. Now, that site is in the process of becoming a new housing development.

Crews are clearing the two lots at 4519 and 4520 El Segundo Boulevard once home to the longtime plant shop to make way for a forthcoming development, Urbanize Los Angeles reported. The site spans nearly 3.2 acres and is slated for the development of up to 68 townhomes.

Irvine-based Melia Homes is developing the project, records with the City of Hawthorne reviewed by Urbanize show. It would include a mix of two-, three- and four-bedroom townhomes complete with parking for more than 140 vehicles, according to a report submitted to the Hawthorne Planning Commission. The development, designed by Summa Architecture, would consist of an unspecified number of modern three-story structures.

Construction would likely be completed over two years, a Melia representative said at a Planning Commission hearing, per Urbanize.

Melia Homes has developed several townhome properties across the South Bay among its holdings. This includes the two- to four-bedroom Aspire townhomes in Santa Fe Springs; the two- to three-bedroom Cadence townhomes in Covina; Cerise at Citrus Square, an affordable senior living townhome complex in Cypress; two- to four-bedroom townhomes at the Townes at Orange and Townes at Broadway in Anaheim; and two- to four-bedroom townhomes at Breckyn in Garden Grove.

In the neighboring city of Gardena, Melia previously developed two separate townhome projects of 84 and 114 units, according to Urbanize.

Prior to its closure in February, Hawthorne Nursery was one of the last remaining nurseries operated by Japanese Americans before World War II, according to The Los Angeles Times. In 1941, facing incarceration in the United States’ infamous internment camps for Japanese Americans, the founding Nakai family fled to work on a sugar beet farm in Colorado, leasing the property to another nursery owner in Gardena. When the family returned after the war, the Nakais purchased more land to expand the nursery into its final 3.2-acre footprint.

— Chris Malone Méndez