Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza redevelopment wins City Council approval Bianca Barragan

Nearly 1,000 residential units, a hotel, and new space for food and retail By Bianca Barragan

The Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza has jumped its last planning hurdle and is on the straightway toward a $700 million redevelopment.

The redevelopment was approved unanimously Wednesday by the Los Angeles City Council.

As planned, the mall, owned by Chicago-based Capri Capital Partners, will be turned into a mixed-use complex with 961 new condos and apartments, a 400-room hotel, and new offices, restaurants, and retail space.

The project’s development agreement was amended at a June 5 planning and land use management meeting to include an affordable housing mandate.

“This community has been waiting on this development for 10 or 12 years and it will provide the kind of investment that South Los Angeles deserves,” Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson, who represents the area, said in a statement after the June vote.

Under the agreement, Capri is required to set aside 5 percent of rental units for low-income households and 5 percent of the for-sale units for residents making 150 percent of the area median income.

The development agreement also says 30 percent of the project’s construction team has to be hired locally.

Supporters say the project will bring much-needed jobs and opportunities to the neighborhood.

But opponents maintain that this is not the development the community has been waiting for. Many said they wished the project offered more for current residents of the neighborhood in terms of affordable housing stock.