Taylor Morrison Seeks to Turn Azusa School Into Housing

A decommissioned elementary school in Azusa is slated for demolition and will become the site of a new housing community from Taylor Morrison.

The Arizona-based homebuilder is poised to turn the property at 1035 East Mauna Loa Avenue, formerly home to W.R. Powell Elementary School, into a new residential community known as Delaney Square, Urbanize Los Angeles reported.

Taylor Morrison’s plans call for demolishing all existing buildings associated with the former elementary school and erecting 128 new residential units in a mix of structures such as detached two-story homes and two-story duplexes and triplexes. Residents would have access to a central paseo, landscaping and electric vehicle charging facilities.

In order to proceed, Taylor Morrison needs approval of a general plan amendment and a zoning change due to existing land regulations at the former school site.

Taylor Morrison’s endeavor is the latest proposal in Greater Los Angeles to call for replacing shuttered public school campuses with housing.

In Pasadena, the Pasadena Unified School District Board of Education is advancing entitlements for a workforce housing development on the site of the former Roosevelt Elementary School at 315 North Pasadena Avenue; the project calls for multiple low-rise structures with a total of 115 residential units. In Duarte, the Duarte Unified School District is working with Crestfield Townhomes to redevelop the closed Andres Duarte Arts Academy into 169 three- and four-bedroom townhomes.

Taylor Morrison is no stranger to the L.A. area.

In 2021, the company completed construction of Encore, a community of for-sale homes in Playa Vista. That development at 6500 South Seabluff Drive comprises 14 multistory single-family homes, each with its own two-car garage. And in San Pedro, Taylor Morrison has overseen the conversion of a former navy housing complex into Highpark, a roughly 61.5-acre property at 29600 South Western Avenue that’s slated to feature more than 670 homes once complete.

— Chris Malone Méndez