East L.A. Community Corporation has cleared away two small buildings near the Gold Line's Soto Station in Boyle Heights, the first step towards the construction of a new affordable housing complex.

The project site, located at 2423-2431 E. 1st Street, is planned as the follow-up to the Cielito Lindo Apartments, which opened on an adjacent property earlier this year.  Plans call for a four-story building that would contain 28 units of affordable and supportive housing, in addition to 1,000 square feet of ground-level commercial space.

Pasadena-based Gonzalez Goodale Architects is designing the building, which would offer a mix of studio, one-, two-, and three-bedroom units to households earning between 30 and 50 percent of the Los Angeles area median income.

Combined with the abutting Cielito Lindo apartments, ELACC will have 78 units of affordable housing between the two properties.

ELACC is also planning a third project on a Metro-owned property adjacent to Soto Station.