Live/Work Changes Again Headed to Council
Eric Richardson
[Flickr]
The Cornell Building, part of the Santee Village complex, is one of the projects that could benefit from changes to the city's definition of live/work units.
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — After six months of work, a small code change that could make Downtown condos easier to finance appears ready for passage by City Council.
The change, which would redefine live/work units to be mostly residential, was pushed back to committee in December, but a compromise plan brought only supporters to a Tuesday hearing.
While the new rules were pushed by business advocacy groups and developers from the start, concerns were expressed that the new rules could make it harder for a developer to create space suitable for use as artists' studios.
The new proposal creates a more flexible definition, creating two "tiers" of live/work units. The first tier would have under 25% commercial space, satisfying Federal Housing Administration (FHA) requirements for its secured loans. The second would allow 25 - 50% commercial, and would be more suitable for artist uses. A developer would simply choose one definition or the other when applying for permits.
That would be good news for developers and for stalled Downtown projects. Unsold units at Santee Village were repossessed by a subsidiary of Bank of America last January after only 49 of 216 units had been purchased. Today, a company VP told the Council's planning committee that the live/work change would make it easier to again sell units. "With the approval, Santee Village will be more affordable to the community and ... has a better chance to exist as it was originally proposed," said Robert Benson.
With today's planning committee approval, the rules will now return to the full City Council for passage.
Brandon Lee on January 12, 2010, at 09:16PM – #1
Anything sounds good to get financing and people moving in, on new projects being built. The only problem I see if there are long term issues with people not being able to afford whatever weird loans are still available.
Karin Liljegren on January 13, 2010, at 03:17PM – #2
I do like this solution! However, I wonder if there were many projects or people unable to get financing and lost their places due to this small change taking SOOOOO long to pass. If the private sector moved as slow as the city, we would all be out of jobs.
Kip Nitrale on January 13, 2010, at 04:12PM – #3
FHA is just what is needed for downtown and would be a win for everyone. It would enable first time homebuyers who are just the type of people who are attracted to downtown, it would help reduce the glut of units on the market which is good for existing owners because it will support home prices, and it is good for the community because future developers will feel more comfortable moving forward with additional projects as existing ones get sold out. Brandon, affordability could be an issue but not so much because of new "crazy mortgages" -- the most egregious aren't being offered any more. FHA loans, however, will mean more potential buyers and higher demand, which could bid up prices (but given the economy, not by runaway amounts I don't think). Over all I am glad the city seems to be on the right path.
LA Artist on January 14, 2010, at 10:48AM – #4
The reason this change took so long is that the interests behind it failed to consider the impact on the arts and projects with more commercial work space. To go from 66% work space to a max of 25% without variance was huge. The proposed change now allows for live work percentages more appropriate to the arts.
Let's be frank though, downtown loft developments have on the whole produced housing that is more expensive than median Los Angeles Housing. Rents have risen beyond the means of many, especially artists. So, while its nice to think this is about affordable housing, that's not been the reality.
It is not for a lack of demand- just look at the sold out microlofts at Rossyln. If the City is serious of about affordability of Live Work and retention of creative base they should consider some form of incentives for affordable creative space.