The World Trade Center in downtown Los Angeles is getting a massive residential overhaul.
The former office complex located at 350 S. Figueroa Street is set to begin a city-managed conversion into 512 apartments as part of an affordable housing plan.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass visited the 33-story building on Tuesday, April 28.
“These projects represent the kind of innovation we are applying to break away from the status quo that has stunted L.A.’s housing production and driven up rents for decades,” said the Mayor in a statement.
“Work from home and other shifts mean there is a large supply of office space that we can use for housing, but for too long, outdated city regulations stood in the way. We’re now unlocking tens of thousands of housing units to conversion, which can be much faster and cost-effective than new construction.”
According to Urbanize Los Angeles, the conversion of office spaces into apartments mirrors a plan that worked to revitalize housing in L.A. over two decades ago.
“The original adaptive reuse ordinance, which is credited with reviving Downtown Los Angeles in the early 2000s, is also a lynchpin of the City’s effort to expand its housing stock,” reads the report.
“Planning officials project that the ordinance could enable more than 43,000 new homes by transforming vacant or underused commercial building which are at least 15 years old.”
The construction timeline is currently unknown, though it’s expected to begin in the coming years.
