LA’s Skid Row to change forever as $2B mega project brings 1,500 new homes

A long-awaited $2 billion mega-development that promises to dramatically reshape the downtown LA skyline — and one the city’s most infamous neighborhoods — has finally been approved.

The new development boasts more than 1,500 new apartments, offices, retail and restaurants to one of the city’s most blighted corridors.

The Fourth & Central development will transform nearly eight acres near the border where the trendy Arts District meets the grim streets of Skid Row — the Los Angeles City Council approved it on Tuesday.

Home to one the nation’s largest and densest homeless populations, officials estimate that roughly 3,800 people sleep on the streets and in tents throughout Skid Row’s roughly 50-block span.

The massive development will replace cold storage facilities, parking lots and warehouses with a campus of 10 buildings that will reportedly include 1,589 housing units (of which 262 will be affordable units), a whopping 400,000 square feet of office spice alongside about 145,748 square feet dedicated to restaurants and retail.

The tallest building is expected to be 30 stories high.

It will also feature two acres of public walkable green space, and parking that will accommodate 2,426 cars, according to Urbanize LA.

The redevelopment has been five years in the making, with the owner, Los Angeles Cold Storage, spending half a decade navigating city red tape to secure the necessary zone changes and implement plan changes.

Envisioned as a “gateway” to downtown LA, Fourth & Central hopes to attract thousands of residents with higher density housing near major transit hubs.

“We have literally spent years working on our plan to transform this industrial property into a mixed-use community,” president of Los Angeles Cold Storage president Larry Rauch told Urbanize said. “To hear our city’s decision-makers agree with our vision for what Downtown Los Angeles can and should be makes today’s major milestone all the more rewarding.”

While securing approval is a big win for developers, they still must find financing and reportedly hope to break ground within two years.

The approval comes as downtown LA appears to be entering a new wave of redevelopment after years of pandemic-related struggles.

Just this week, plans were unveiled to transform the aging World Trade Center into a 512-unit affordable housing complex as part of a roughly $200 million plan. 

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