NBA Stars Pitch Affordable Housing in East Hollywood

NBA basketball players Terry and Tobias Harris of Visionary Development Group want to build a 90-unit affordable housing complex in East Hollywood.

The brothers’ Downtown Los Angeles-based firm has filed plans for a seven-story building at 4537-4345 West Santa Monica Boulevard, Urbanize Los Angeles reported. A laundromat would be demolished.

Plans call for 90 studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments atop 836 square feet of ground-floor shops. No on-site parking would be provided.

Visionary Development would employ Mayor Karen Bass’ Executive Directive 1, which streamlines approval for affordable housing.

The developer, whose project would be built as affordable for low- and moderate-income households, would also use density bonus incentives allowing a larger building than allowed by zoning rules

The project, designed by Adams-Normandie-based Kevin Tsai Architecture, looks like four alternating stacks of rounded gray tablets, with a corrugated screen across three sections, according to a rendering.

The ground-floor shops would have floor-to-ceiling windows, while the roof would contain two terrace decks.

The project site is east of Metro’s Vermont/Santa Monica Station, which has spurred a handful of larger mixed-use and multifamily residential developments along Santa Monica Boulevard, according to Urbanize.

Terry Harris is a former professional basketball player for the NBA G League’s Delaware Blue Coats and now develops real estate along with his brother, Tobias Harris, of the league’s Philadelphia 76ers.

Their Visionary Development Group, founded in 2019, aims to develop 1,000 units of affordable housing this year, primarily in Los Angeles, according to Opportunity Finance Network.

Terry Harris, who lives in L.A., oversees a development portfolio of more than 270 properties, managing projects valued at more than $95 million, according to his company website. The firm also has built single-family luxury homes in Joshua Tree.

In June, Visionary Development filed plans designed by Kevin Tsai Architecture to build three affordable housing projects with a combined 270 apartments in Echo Park.

— Dana Bartholomew