LA Planning Commission Greenlights New LGBT Center Campus
The campus will include as many as 100 units of affordable housing for seniors, 100 beds for homeless youth, new senior and youth centers and as many as 35 units of permanent supportive housing for young people, as well as ground-floor retail space.
Los Angeles—The Los Angeles City Planning Commission has unanimously approved plans for the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s new Anita May Rosenstein Campus in Hollywood. Slated for opening in early 2019, the campus will serve as the new administrative headquarters for the center, but also include as many as 100 units of affordable housing for seniors, 100 beds for homeless youth, new senior and youth centers, up to 35 units of permanent supportive housing for young people, as well as ground-floor retail space.
KFA Architects cofounder and principal Barbara Flammang, whose firm is designing the property in collaboration with design firm Leong Leong, told MHN that “the significance of the residential components of the project really has to do with the fact that the senior and youth housing are part of an integrated campus, creating a multi-generational living community for LGBT seniors and youth. This may be the first of its kind in the country.
“The senior housing is adjacent to the Senior Center, where residents can participate in the programs that the center offers and interact with other seniors that visit the center,” Flammang continues. “Likewise, the youth transitional living program is located adjacent to the Youth Center, where youth can get help with job training and placement and on-site counseling services.
“This allows both seniors and youth to have access to large outdoor open spaces and more secure private smaller courtyards which provides more opportunities for residents to be with each other in beautifully landscaped spaces.”
The project, off Santa Monica Boulevard at 1118 N. McCadden Place, will tie together the existing The Village at Ed Gould Plaza with the new project, creating a larger campus. Currently, The Village includes two theaters, two gallery spaces and offices for AIDS/LifeCycle, as well as community meeting space. The new campus will also free up the much needed space at the current McDonald/Wright building to be entirely dedicated to medical and mental health care, addiction recovery services, HIV/STD testing and treatment, and more.
The center is currently engaged in a campaign to raise $40 million or more for the new facility. Phase I of the campaign—securing $25 million in pledges—has already been completed, including a lead gift of $7 million from the Anita May Rosenstein Foundation, Wilbur D. May Foundation, and the Anita and Arnold Rosenstein Family Foundation.
