A massive housing and retail development to be constructed on LA Metro land at the North Hollywood B (Red) Line subway station that adds 1,500 residential units and $80 million in rail and bus station improvements received final approval last week from the Los Angeles City Council.
In the works for more than 10 years, District NoHo cleared its last hurdle with a 12-0 vote by the City Council on Friday, March 22. The vote approved the public benefits agreement between LA Metro, the property owner, and developer Trammel Crow, announced L.A. City Council president and Metro board member Paul Krekorian.
Krekorian pushed hard for the mixed-use project which will include 1,572 housing units. Of those, 311 will be affordable units for low-income households — about 20%. Also 55 units will be restricted as “moderate income units,” according to city documents.
In addition to housing, the project also will contain up to 105,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space and up to 580,000 square feet of office space.
An aerial rendering of what the proposed NoHo District project would look like. (image captured from NoHo District website)
The project received mixed reviews from housing advocates.
Abundant Housing LA, a group supporting more housing at all price levels in L.A., praised the City Council and LA Metro. “District NoHo is a step in the right direction towards easing L.A.’s housing shortage while creating better access to public transportation,” wrote Cynthia Clemons, a field organizer for the group, in a comment in December when the project was before a city committee for approval.
But the NoHo Home Alliance, a group advocating for more low-income housing in the San Fernando Valley, had been pushing L.A. and LA Metro to revamp its agreement with the developer to increase the low-income housing portion to 35%, the percentage in the original proposal released in 2014.
After meetings with Krekorian, Metro and the developer over several years, the group was unsuccessful in increasing the percentage of units for low-income residents. The group was trying to get Metro to pay for train station improvements, so that the developer could be freed up to allow for more affordable units.
“It is a disappointment that our government agencies could not do better with one of the largest housing developments on public land,” said Barbara Motz, a member of NoHo Home Alliance on Monday, March 25.
Desmond Faison, Truman Capps, Elaine Loring, Barbara Motz and Glenn Block (l-R) stand near a publicly owned lot that was given final approval on Friday, March 22, 2024 for a mixed use development in North Hollywood in and around the NoHo transit station. The group had advocated for an increase in affordable housing for the project. The land is owned by LA Metro. (Photo by Andy Holzman, Contributing Photographer)
Both the city of L.A. and LA Metro have pledged to use excess land for affordable housing. “One would hope the incentive on public land would be to benefit the public good, rather than go for a profit motive,” Motz said. Others in the group told this newspaper that Metro was locked in on getting the developer to pay for station improvements.
Motz said setting aside of 55 of the planned market rate units for moderate income families was appreciated by her group.
Krekorian, who represents Council District 2 where the project would be built, praised the development in a statement, saying that adding more than 300 affordable units to an area with a severe homeless problem will “dramatically increase the supply of affordable housing in North Hollywood.” He could not be reached on Monday.
“The (approximately) 300 affordable units at District NoHo increases the amount of affordable housing in Metro’s portfolio by nearly 50% and will be one of the largest affordable development projects in the city of Los Angeles,” noted Brad Cox, senior managing director with Trammell Crow, in a statement in July 2022.
NoHo Home Alliance members pointed out that LA Metro proposes to build 10,000 housing units in 10 years, of which 50% would be lower-priced affordable units. In January 2021, Metro reported only 37% of its projects, including those in the pipeline, were affordable units.
Once built, District NoHo will be the largest transit-centered housing project in LA Metro history, built on 15.9 acres of its own land, with some units literally built over the train station. Most of the project would be built on an underused Metro parking lot.
The NoHo rail station, the third-busiest in LA Metro’s countywide system, will be getting a new entrance to the B Line subway on the west side of Lankershim Boulevard and also improvements to the G (Orange) line rapid busway terminus.
Other improvements in the agreement include a new set of escalators to the subway, additional bus bays including electric charging ports, a bike hub, a 1.2-acre park, a performance space, and completion of a bicycle track that connects from Burbank to Chatsworth.
“We believe the project will, among other things, bring respect, a cleaner ambience, and value to the area,” wrote Linda and Jeffrey Fin of North Hollywood, in a joint written comment submitted to the city on the project.
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City News Service contributed to this article.