A new 19-story building will open next week on Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles.
The Weingart Tower will provide 278 permanent supportive apartment units for formerly homeless and low-income residents. There will be studio and one-bedroom apartments with access to common areas, art rooms, a cafe, and wraparound services. The hope is that people will want to stay inside and focus on their lives.
Kevin Murray, the Weingart Center Chief Executive Officer, told KNX News’ Pete Demetriou the tower will be vastly different from past supportive housing buildings in the area.
“We built a nice building and we've shown you can build a nice building in otherwise challenged parts of town and then we'll build another nice building in this part of town,” he said. “So when you drive down Sixth Street, you will not see the same kinds of things you saw before, but you'll get a nice building.”
Murray said they’ll do everything they can to maintain the look of the inside and outside of the building. He explained how they’re trying to improve the neighborhood with architecture.
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According to the L.A. Times, each unit is valued at $600,000 and will get permanent financing from L.A.’s Prop HHH state housing funds. They will also receive $56 million in state tax credits.
There will be a total of three towers. Two more towers – a total of 406 more units – are slated to open within the next four to five years.
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