Caption: Fabric on Los Angeles Street in Downtown Los Angeles, an Omgivning project. Image Source: Urban Offerings, by Nephew and Lynch Eisinger Design.

LOS ANGELES (April 12, 2021) -- Today, Central City Association (CCA) released a white paper on adaptive reuse's power to spur economic recovery from the pandemic and address the deep housing shortage, homelessness and affordability crisis in the City of Los Angeles. Adaptive reuse -- the repurposing of underutilized buildings to meet communities' present needs -- is a proven, successful practice that is especially key now as cities navigate changing demands to office, retail, hotel spaces and more. CCA provides a set of recommendations, including allowing adaptive reuse citywide, that the City can implement now to convert obsolete buildings into housing and community-serving facilities. Read the full white paper with a list of detailed recommendations at ccala.org/AdaptiveReuse.

"Expanding our city's adaptive reuse policies would create opportunities to deliver housing of all kinds and other resources like childcare centers that strengthen communities," said Jessica Lall, President & CEO of CCA. "We look forward to collaborating with the City to implement our recommendations to ensure LA can recover from the pandemic as a more resilient and livable city."

"I have been a fierce advocate for adaptive reuse since I represented Downtown as State Senator and was the author of the Los Angeles Downtown Rebound bills, which allocated funds for adaptive reuse, low-income multi-family housing and development and planning grants," said Los Angeles City Councilmember Gil Cedillo. "I look forward to working with CCA on their white paper's recommendations to update the City's policies on adaptive reuse to a greater variety of buildings and future uses including my motion to consider how hotels might convert to micro-unit housing."

CCA expects that if just five to 10 percent of the city's estimated total 155,000,000 square feet of office space was converted to housing, it could yield roughly 8,000 to 16,000 new housing units, plus thousands more could come online if hotels, retail spaces, outdated industrial buildings and parking structures also qualified for reuse. California is estimated to have a shortage of 3 million housing units, and the City of Los Angeles must plan for over 455,000 units to be built between now and 2029. This housing target far surpasses any level of production in the city's history. Adaptive reuse development in Los Angeles has historically delivered much-needed housing. Over 12,000 new housing units in Downtown LA were created through adaptive reuse in just two decades.

"Our city is facing many challenges in the wake of the pandemic, but adaptive reuse is a useful tool in our work to address housing affordability, homelessness and more. I believe we must do more to encourage the 'missing middle' of housing affordability known as moderate income housing. Thank you to CCA for authoring this white paper. I look forward to working with stakeholders to develop a policy that feasibly delivers more housing affordable to all income levels through adaptive reuse," said Los Angeles City Councilmember Paul Koretz.

"CCA's white papers tackle contemporary challenges with their recommendations to expand adaptive reuse opportunities within the city," said Stephanie Graves, President & CEO of Lee Andrews Group and CCA Board Chair. "Their proposed actionable steps can help LA and its sister cities recover more quickly from the pandemic while addressing urgent challenges including our housing and homelessness crises and climate concerns."

CCA's white paper recommends that the City Council update its policies on adaptive reuse to apply citywide and to a greater variety of buildings and future uses. A swift, holistic update would help communities respond to uncertainties raised by the pandemic and potential demand for new uses in commercial districts citywide. It also recommends that the City advocate for proposed State legislation to foster adaptive reuse projects across California. See pages 13 and 14 of the white paper for recommendations.

"The Adaptive Reuse Ordinance was one of the most critical components of the revitalization of DTLA," said Karin Liljegren, Principal & Founder of Omgivning. "If updated and expanded throughout the city it could be an important component for creating housing, maintaining our neighborhoods' culture and doing it all in the most sustainable form possible.

"Adaptive reuse was a major catalyst for the transformation of Downtown. Now is the time to build on past successes in Downtown and citywide by repurposing yesterday's buildings to meet our communities' future needs," said Tom Gilmore, CEO of Gilmore Associates.

For more information on CCA white papers, see ccala.org/white-papers.

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Contact
Clara Karger, Director of Public Affairs, 213-418-1672, ckarger@ccala.org
Lily Rosenberg, Communications Associate, 213-416-7535, lrosenberg@ccala.org