Storm Properties Proposes Townhomes on Shuttered School Site

A decommissioned school campus in Baldwin Park is poised for redevelopment into housing.

Storm Properties is pursuing the construction of 104 townhomes at the former Florence Flanner School site at 1314 Le Borgne Avenue, Urbanize Los Angeles reported. The proposed development, currently in the environmental review stage, would rise on a portion of the abandoned site.

The project is dubbed “Bassett Village” due to its location on the edge of the unincorporated community of Bassett; the Bassett Unified School District owns the site. The Mediterranean-style buildings, designed by Angeleno Associates, would contain a mix of two- and three-story floor plans. The development would consist of 20 new buildings boasting a total of 104 townhomes. Each townhome would have a private two-car garage and access to amenities including a private park and a dog park.

Storm Properties is pursuing a zone change, a general plan amendment and other city-level entitlements, for the site. If approved, the Basset Village project would roll out over a 19-month period between November 2026 and June 2028. The Torrance-based firm previously secured entitlements for a similar development in the Athens neighborhood of south Los Angeles; it later sold the project to KB Home for development.

School sites across California have been emerging targets for redevelopment into housing as municipalities rush to meet state-mandated housing goals.

Elsewhere in Greater Los Angeles, developers are looking to erect 571 townhomes on a 23-acre site between the defunct Morningside High and Woodworth Elementary schools in Inglewood. The so-called “Morningside Project” would include 403 row townhomes and 168 interlocking townhomes ranging in size from one to four bedrooms with amenities including two clubhouses, swimming pools, pocket parks, a dog park and parking for roughly 1,120 vehicles.

Of the new townhomes, 10 percent would be set aside for very-low-income households, or roughly $53,000 for one person and $75,750 for a household of four.

Earlier this spring in San Jose, Mana Investments filed plans to build condominium units on baseball fields next to a school. That project on a school district-owned site would fit more than 100 condos into 32 three-story buildings across roughly 7 acres.

— Chris Malone Méndez