A document from the Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council (DLANC)'s Planning and Land Use Committee has revealed new details about a proposed development which would convert a series of buildings in Skid Row into high-density housing.

The project, described as the "Efficient City Apartments," would span between four buildings at 721, 801, 809 and 813 E. 5th Street.

Accordng to the presentation, designs for David Lawrence Gray Architects call for a total of 160 residential units above slightly over 10,000 square feet of retail space and parking accommodations for 32 automobiles and 40 bicycles.

The project would provide so-called micro-units, also known as efficiency apartments.  These smaller dwellings, with an average size of 277 square feet, would provide entry-level housing for young professionals and military veterans, in lieu of the luxury accommodations seen in most new residential developments.

The buildings, two of which are over 100 years old, were originally built as hotels to serve passengers from the nearby Southern Pacific Railroad depot at 5th Street and Central Avenue.  After the depot was merged into Union Station in 1939, the hotels gradually fell out of favor.

In more recent years, thet have served as tenement housing and rehabilitation facility for the Salvation Army.

Following the end of World War II, an influx of Japanese-American business owners rapidly transformed the surrounding blocks into what is now known as the Seafood District.  However, a combination of poor infrastructure and an awkward street grid made these former hotels inhospitable to the industrial and wholesale uses which are commonly seen in other parts of the neighborhood.

The DLANC Planning and Land Use Committee voted unanimously to support the project.