“Awesome Building of the Month” Series Highlights Holos’ Work in Adaptive Reuse with 28th St. Apartments
Our 28th St Apartments site was featured in the “Awesome Building of the Month” series, published by the Foundation of Residential Treasures, Los Angeles (FORT:LA)! 28th St. Apartments was highlighted by FORT:LA as an example of how “existing buildings can be upcycled into livable places that also sustain the community’s connection to its past,” while also adding contemporary style and addressing modern community needs.
A brief excerpt of the piece is below:
Times changed, the building fell into decline and in the 20-teens the nonprofit developer Clifford Beers Housing (now Holos Communities) and the South-LA based nonprofit Coalition for Responsible Community Development (CRCD) worked with Koning Eizenberg Architecture to create housing in a striking convergence of old and new. The ground floor became a youth education and workforce development center with a computer lab open to the community, run by CRCD staffers decked out in green company T-shirts. They turned the upper floors of the YMCA building into permanent supportive housing dwellings.
Then they added a new 4-story building at the back of the site, with studio apartments with windows on both sides for cross-ventilation. There are a total of 49 dwellings, with 30 of them permanent supportive housing. Young people from CRCD’s South LA Youth Build program assisted with the construction. “Paul Revere Williams served as a champion and example for minorities during a time when racial discrimination and segregation was pervasive in Los Angeles,” said Cristian Ahumada, Executive Director and CEO of Holos Communities. “The 28th Street Apartments honors his legacy, by creating a space that fosters community and provides economic mobility for those most vulnerable.”
