Developer Sola Impact is planning its latest multifamily project in an Opportunity Zone, this one in Westmont. The proposed development isn’t from another apartment complex it has in the works.
The firm wants to build an 84-unit complex at 11001 S. Vermont Avenue, according to Urbanize. Sola Impact recently demolished a series of small commercial buildings to make way for the development.
Architects Collective is designing the 51,000-square-foot project, made of prefabricated modular units. The complex would include 21 permanent supportive affordable housing, according to the report. There would also be social services on the ground floor.
Sola Impact plans to start construction this year and complete the project by early 2023.
The development site is less than two miles from an 84-unit project Sola Impact is planning at 11630-11646 S. Main Street in South Los Angeles. That complex would include 10 affordable units.
Last year, Sola Impact also filed plans for a 68-unit complex at 4238 S. Western Avenue in Vermont Square.
All three of those projects are located within federal Opportunity Zones. The 2017 program offers generous tax breaks for developers who build in designated “distressed” zones, and who hold onto those projects for years.
Sola Impact founder Martin Muoto has called the OZ program “a godsend;” it has also come under criticism from some Congressional Democrats who allege it does little to meet stated goals of attracting beneficial economic development to neighborhoods.
[Urbanize] — Dennis Lynch