Public Sites Slated for Development Headed for Sale

Two publicly owned sites in Los Angeles are heading to the open market after years of stalled mixed-use proposals.

CRA/LA, the successor to the Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles that was dissolved in 2011, will declare parcels in Exposition Park and Bunker Hill as surplus land after the expiration of city-led development option agreements on Sept. 30, Urbanize Los Angeles reported. The parcels in question include a vacant lot across from the University of Southern California and a hillside parcel on downtown’s Bunker Hill.

In Exposition Park, the site at 3685 South Vermont Avenue was the former site of the Bethune Library. The City of Los Angeles had tapped Orion Capital to build a 168-room Courtyard by Marriott at the site.

The deal, supported by City Council president Marqueece Harris-Dawson unraveled after the project faced opposition from the city’s own zoning administrator and South Los Angeles Area Planning Commission. That led the City Council to step in and force its construction, a move that prompted a lawsuit from Strategic Actions for a Just Economy, a nonprofit group that challenged the entitlements for the Bethune site. The proposal eventually ground to a halt.

The Bunker Hill Y-1 parcel, located at Fourth and Hill Streets, was once slated for Angels Landing, a two-tower project approved by the city in partnership with MacFarlane Partners and the Peebles Corporation. That $1.6 billion plan called for two skyscrapers rising 64 and 42 stories with more than 400 units, two hotels and retail space.

The developers faced off against former City Councilmember Kevin de León, who represented downtown, leaving the proposal dead in the water. The developers ultimately sued the City over the collapse of the deal.

Now that the City’s option agreements for both sites have expired, CRA/LA is required by state law to declare the properties as surplus land, meaning it will have to first offer both properties to affordable housing developers during a 60-day exclusive window. If no developers respond or reach an agreement, the agency can then market the parcels more broadly.

— Chris Malone Méndez