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Crenshaw
Crossing
Los Angeles, CA
Client: Ethos Real Estate (formerly Watt Development) and LA Metro
Two dynamic urban plazas straddle Crenshaw Boulevard to support a mix of uses at the transfer point along two of LA Metro’s most trafficked rail lines, the K and E lines. Crenshaw Crossing addresses need by providing 401 units of affordable housing, a full-service grocery store, a YMCA community center, and other community-serving retail stores, while celebrating the past and present-day legacy of Crenshaw, a historically black neighborhood, as a contemporary cultural destination.
CATALYTIC IMPACT
One of the most critical transfer points in all LA Metro’s system, Crenshaw Crossing connects rail from Santa Monica to DTLA and LAX to DTLA, at an above grade transfer point. The challenge centered on defining a program for local need while showcasing the diaspora and cultural reach of this historically black neighborhood.
INFLUENCING THE OUTCOME
Community members conceived the programming of a new two-building, mixed-use project connecting the K and E rail lines. Access to safe open space, a full-service grocery store, and after-school and senior programming were the community’s top priorities in addition to affordable housing.
During the competition stage, RELM convinced the developer to increase community-serving retail and commercial use from 5,000 SF to 45,000 SF by presenting case studies of successful precedents that focused on community benefit. The result, a true community hub; not just an affordable housing complex.
