The Boyle Heights Neighborhood Council land-use committee Monday evening will review the latest plans by East LA Community Corporation to develop a 60-unit affordable housing project next to Mariachi Plaza, its meeting agenda shows.
Named Lucha Reyes Apartments, the proposed Boyle Heights development would take shape on vacant, Metro-owned land at the southwestern corner of Pennsylvania Avenue’s intersection with Bailey Street, just north of Mariachi Plaza. Plans call for 29 units reserved for households at between 30 and 50 percent of area median income, 30 Transition Age Youth housing units, and one manager’s unit.
ELACC was selected by the Metro Planning and Programming Committee in 2018 to develop the roughly 1-acre site and has conducted a series of community meetings since then, recently downsizing its plans from five to four stories.
“Our team met with hundreds of residents during 10 community meetings to design the site, determine its features, and explore functions beyond housing, including providing a designated community space for Mariachis, small business and the community at large and adding a community garden,” an ELACC project webpage reads.
“The result is a project designed to embrace and uplift the contribution of cultural entrepreneurs to our community, not limit their access to the plaza, or prevent residents from patronizing their services.”
ELACC is seeking positive recommendations from the Boyle Heights Neighborhood Council land-use committee and board for its plans, which reflect Assembly Bill 2345 incentives that would allow an additional one story and 43 units above current zoning.
The affordable unit mix would consist of 26 studio apartments, 18 one-bedrooms, eight two-bedrooms, and seven three-bedrooms. Tenant services programming would include after-school tutoring for school-aged children by ELACC, as well as case management for TAY units provided by Jovenes, a Boyle Heights-based homeless youth agency.
Designed by Y&M Architects, plans also call for a community garden and 4,000-square-foot community room, among other features.
The project would provide 42 automobile parking spaces accessible from Pennsylvania Avenue.
