A block west of Metro's Florence Station, AMCAL Multi-Housing, Inc. is in the midst of construction on a low-income housing project.
The Florence Apartments, located on a County-owned property at 1600-1616 E. Florence Avenue, will consist of a five-story edifice featuring 109 residential units atop parking and approximately 10,000 square feet of street-fronting commercial uses.
The podium-type development will offer a mix of one- and two-bedroom apartments upon completion. According to a staff report to the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee, the under-construction apartments will cater to households earning at or below 40 and 60 percent of the area median income, with rents ranging from $509 to $1,309 per month.
VTBS Architects designed the contemporary low-rise structure, which is slated to include an approximately 2,000-square-foot workforce development center on its ground floor.
AMCAL financed the nearly $48-million project in part with Affordable Housing Sustainable Community funds, according to its website. Completion is anticipated in 2020.
The project has engendered controversy in the Florence-Firestone community due to its treatment of the now-demolished Florence Library, which was originally slated to be rebuilt as the sole occupant of the new development's ground-floor. However, Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas moved in 2017 to instead relocate the library to a different property approximately one mile west. For more information on that saga, see this report from Streetsblog.
AMCAL's project may represent the future of Florence Avenue following a recent update to the Florence-Firestone Community Plan. The new plan, which was adopted in September 2019, establishes mixed-use zoning along Florence Avenue.
A block south of Florence Avenue, non-profit developer A Community of Friends broke ground on a $24-million supportive housing development in November 2019.
- 1600-1616 E. Florence Avenue (Urbanize LA)
Interested in finding affordable housing? Visit housing.lacity.org.
