This empty lot at Wilshire and Crenshaw could turn into nearly 200 affordable homes

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

An empty lot at the southwest corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Crenshaw Boulevard could soon transform into nearly 200 affordable apartments.

Abode Communities, a nonprofit affordable housing developer, is developing the Koreatown-adjacent project in partnership with Metro, which owns the property. The development would include 194 income-restricted apartments and two manager units for households earning between 30% and 60% of area median income.

Construction is projected to begin in 2028 and continue through 2030, with apartments expected to begin leasing that year, according to the project’s current timeline.

The project will include 69 one-bedroom, 76 two-bedroom and 49 three-bedroom apartments, along with a 6,200-square-foot flex-use transit plaza connecting two bus stops, a shared community room, landscaped open space, a community garden, play areas and bike facilities. 

The proposed 196-unit affordable housing development at Wilshire Boulevard and Crenshaw Boulevard.

(

Rendering courtesy of Koning Eizenberg Architecture

)

Plans also call for two bus shelters and extended bus bays. Residents would park along Crenshaw Boulevard, with more than 100 parking spaces planned in an underground garage.

The site is located in Windsor Village, within the Park Mile Specific Plan area, just outside Koreatown.

Rick Kim, Koreatown Youth and Community Center’s director of economic development services, said their organization will provide its knowledge of the surrounding community as a development partner. KYCC also plans to connect future residents with its programs as a service provider. 

“We have services for kids and family services around a wide range of social needs — after school programs, preschool programs, mental health resources and personal financial literacy, so we figured it just all made perfect sense,” he told The LA Local. “We are trying to figure out exactly how and what type of resources would most benefit the residents.” 

Metro acquired the property in the 1980s for potential future transportation projects. It was later used for construction staging for the D Line subway extension. The development is now part of Metro’s effort to build 10,000 homes on agency-owned property by 2031, including at least 5,000 income-restricted homes. 

Metro received eight proposals for the property in 2025 before selecting Abode Communities to develop the site.

The project is subject to planning rules for the Park Mile area and additional historic-preservation review because of its location in Windsor Village, a designated historic district.

The buildings would be taller along Wilshire Boulevard and gradually get lower toward the single-family homes to the south, according to Troy Fosler, a principal at Koning Eizenberg Architecture. 

At a recent community open house, residents left design suggestions, including requests for bulky item pickup, pet washing stations, additional setbacks near neighboring single-family homes and limiting the Wilshire frontage to six stories.

Tracy Park lives about two blocks from the site, which is currently an empty lot. For her, the development would bring new activity to a property she has watched for years.

Park, 43, attended the September open house at the Korean Resource Center with her husband and their two children. 

Tracy Park, 43, and her husband, Ben Bowes, 49, at the Sept. 23 community open house for the proposed Wilshire/Crenshaw development.

(

Hanna Kang

/

The LA Local

)

“I’ve been seeing that lot for a very, very long time,” she said. “I was really curious what was going to happen with it because it’s in such a prime location and it’s so central to our little community.”

“We want our children here to also see that there’s planning like this going on,” she added. 

Park said she supports adding affordable housing to the area, which she described as densely populated. She sees a sharp contrast between the wealthier neighborhoods north of Wilshire and people experiencing homelessness along the boulevard.

“We see these rich, huge mansions right in Hancock Park, just north of Wilshire, and then walking along Wilshire every single night, we hear our homeless neighbors struggling or sort of asking for food or suffering in the heat,” she said.

Kim said more community meetings are planned before construction.

“We’ll continue to have more engagement sessions between now and the groundbreaking because we want everyone who lives and works in the area to be aware of the situation and have a say in how we can best move forward,” he said.

Residents with questions about the project can email wilshirecrenshaw@abodecommunities.org or sign up here to receive project updates and notices about upcoming meetings.