SoLa Impact Plans Project Near Expo/Crenshaw Metro Station

The prolific affordable housing developer SoLa Impact has filed plans for a six-story Transit Oriented Communities apartment project in West Adams.

The project would go up at 3501-3519 Crenshaw Boulevard, on the site of an existing auto shop near the Expo/Crenshaw Metro station. It’s a section of South L.A. that’s in the middle of a major transformation led by Shaul Kuba’s CIM Group, which is developing dozens of properties in the area simultaneously. Other planned projects include a 90-unit development from Haroni Investments and a 21-unit complex from Decon.

SoLa Impact looks to build a 136-unit apartment complex that would also include 1,300 square feet of ground floor commercial space. The South L.A.-based developer is known for its focus on affordable and social-oriented housing, but this project would mostly be market rate, with 120 market rate units and 15 affordable units, in line with requirements of L.A.’s TOC program, which offers certain density and other zoning incentives to projects located near public transit. The project would also include one accessory dwelling unit, also called an ADU or “granny flat.”

Renderings show a contemporary-style complex with some exterior balconies and a mostly white and gray exterior. An entity affiliated with SoLa Impact purchased part of the site for $7.5 million early this year, according to property records.

The firm, which calls itself “a family of social impact real estate funds with a double bottom line strategy focused on preserving, refreshing and creating high-quality affordable housing in low-income communities,” has a portfolio of more than 1,500 apartments around South L.A. and says it has another 1,500 in the development pipeline. In 2022, SoLa raised at least $250 million for affordable and workforce projects in predominantly Black neighborhoods, including significant investments from PayPal and the California state teachers’ pension fund.