The mix-use development is the first in the nation and will be located on Coliseum St. in Baldwin Village.
Recently, city and community leaders gathered in the Baldwin Village community in South Los Angeles for the groundbreaking of a new Costco Wholesale on Coliseum St. The mixed-use project will feature a store at the street level with 800 units of rental housing above. This is the first mixed-use development in the nation to have Costco as the anchor retail tenant.
“The status quo is over, waiting around for projects to get started and to fail and for opportunities to die,” said Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. “Today we stand before you bringing change, change to L.A. not just a new store, but today we are breaking ground.
“We are breaking with doing things the old way.”
This project is being developed by Thrive Living, a national real estate firm that acquires underutilized properties in communities and transforms those properties into vibrant new housing and retail uses. The project will breathe life into an old and stagnant lot with office buildings at Coliseum St. and Stevely Ave. This redevelopment plan, like all of Thrive’s other projects, is privately financed, without the use of government subsidies such as Low-Income Housing Tax Credits.
“When they first came to me about this project, I thought wonderful things are born here, wonderful things are born on this land,” said Councilwoman Heather Hutt. “This was once a hospital and this is where my little sister was born.
“I feel like it is a rebirth of something wonderful and I’m really excited about what will happen.”
When completed, the housing part of the project will have a total of 184 apartments, or 23% of the total units, will be dedicated to low-income households. The balance of the units will be non-subsidized affordable and workforce housing. The site will be designed to support families, seniors, and other residents to move laterally from within the community.
“I grew up in a trailer and you know, I was a little embarrassed growing up in a trailer when I was little,” said Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, the lead author of AB 2011, a new state law that provides for by-right approval of housing and mixed-use projects that meet specified affordability, environmental, zoning, and labor criteria, and are located in infill areas currently zoned for office, retail, and parking uses.
Wicks continued, “What I’ve grown to realize is that trailer provided for me housing security, that trailer allowed me to go to community college and to transfer it to get my degree, that trailer allowed me to access the ladder up in the middle class to become from working class to middle class to eventually work for President Obama for six years.
“That trailer allowed me to be who I am today, to be serving in the California State Legislature to be fighting for more housing so that young people coming up in low income and working-class families can have that same access, that ladder up to the middle class because they need the housing security, they need a roof over their head.”
“There’s also no question that without the enormous effort led by Southwest Regional Council Carpenters, support of AB 2011, we wouldn’t be here today,” said Ben Shaoul, founder of Thrive Living.
“This is the first mixed-use development in the nation to have Costco as the anchor retail tenant and this is the first mix-use development of this size and scope for Thrive Living in Los Angeles.”
“The number one reason I’m here is that I’m a neighbor on 6th Ave,” said Miguel Santana president and CEO, California Community Foundation-LA4LA. “When my neighborhood heard that there was a Costco coming down the street, it was the talk of the town.
“We get to come down the street, in our own neighborhood and support our community so, thank you for making an investment in this community.”
“You know, getting additional Costcos in Los Angeles is difficult, there’s not a lot of free land and through creative efforts and creative means, this is going to be the first of its kind in the United States for Costco,” Sean Mackin, Costco Regional administrative manager.
“We’re excited to be here and at our 53rd Los Angeles location.”
“Many of our carpenters live near here and because the labor standards that were put in here, it gives legitimate employers a shot at building the project and hiring people from the neighborhood and paying them a living wage as outlined, black and white, in AB 2011,” said Frank Hawk, executive secretary treasurer of the Western States Regional Council of Carpenters.
Hawk continued, “We can assure that the project’s going to be a springboard, not just a job, but to a career. The people building this, that come into the apprenticeship programs that we have to offer and start off into this new career, they’re not going to get rich, but they risk their lives to build things every single day that they can’t afford to go into and all that they ask for is a living wage so that they can provide for their families.
“I’d like to also thank Governor Newsom for his support and his understanding that we need something like that working with legislators to get this thing passed and to take it seriously and so, thank you Governor Newsom for everything that you do.”
Community Build was part of a large group of leading Los Angeles-based organizations to support AB 2011. Other supporters included Brotherhood Crusade, InnerCity Struggle, West Angeles Community Development Corporation, and the Los Angeles Business Council.
