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Highridge Costa’s Central Apartments near downtown Los Angeles was chosen for the Grand Award for Best Supportive/Transitional Housing. Designed by Los Angeles-based Egan | Simon Architecture, the five-story building offers 57 apartments with a mix of studios and one-bedroom units, and includes a ground-floor recreation room, a podium-level outdoor deck and seven parking spaces. The project is designed for individuals experiencing or at risk of homelessness, and is part of a larger effort to address the housing crisis in Los Angeles. The complex is fully accessible, including indoor and outdoor spaces, and also offers on-site resident services.
“We are humbled by the Grand Award for Central Apartments from the Gold Nugget judges in recognizing the challenges in providing attractive, safe and affordable housing for our veterans and their families,” said Moe Mohanna, President of Highridge Costa Development Company. “Over the life of the community, we anticipate that the stability, services, and programs offered here will assist hundreds of veterans and families in the Los Angeles area to rebuild their lives.”
Caitlin Barrow, the firm’s Senior Project Manager who shepherded Central Apartments from idea to grand opening, would certainly agree that such a project required a mix of luck, experience and vision. The luck started in 2018 with finding a suitable (and vacant) commercial property owned by a willing seller, whereas the experience included familiarity with the city’s Prop. HHH funding mechanisms for development and the Low-Income Investment Fund to purchase the land. As for the vision, besides bringing in Egan | Simon Architecture early in the process – and which had the necessary experience and creativity – Barrow also oversaw interior design and related artwork.
John Egan, Principal Architect for Egan | Simon, wanted to create a vertical layering of different-sized community spaces which are stacked within the largest exterior frame. The framing idea is then repeated down to the human scale, allowing residents to enjoy both public and private spaces while still feeling a part of a vertical community. Meanwhile, open corridors provide for natural ventilation while also enhancing natural light and visual connections between spaces. As for Central’s yellow- and orange-hued exterior color scheme, Egan explains that when the building is lit at night, it becomes a beacon for returning home with calming, natural colors. The main entrance to the community also features “New Day,” an exterior-interior mosaic and lobby mural with these same colors by Northern California-based artists Rachel Modi and Michael Chavez, Jr.
“When you go through the building and have this visual connectivity, it’s like a cradle with spaces suspended within it,” Egan said. "People will feel like this is special for them, and we want them to feel like they have an opportunity and that this housing will be impactful. These buildings will be with us for the remainder of the time that we’re here. Everything should be the best we can do and give to the next generation."
Also honored with Awards of Merit at this year’s competition were two of Highridge Costa’s developments in Honolulu, HI designed by Santa Ana-based SVA Architects.
With an Award of Merit for Best Affordable 55+ Community, Kokua Hale is a senior multifamily rental community in the heart of Honolulu. The single-phase community on just 0.29 acres includes a 20-story tower providing 222 affordable studio units with a Walk Score of 99. Common areas for residents include a landscaped amenity deck on the sixth floor and two community rooms. With a perfect location for working professionals and retirees age 55 and over, many residents can forego a personal vehicle with a bus stop across the street and benefit from essential neighborhood amenities within a half-mile radius including a hospital, banks, grocery store and parks.
With an Award of Merit for Best On-the-Boards Affordable Housing, Pohukaina Commons will provide 625 critically needed affordable workforce rental homes for local families and individuals. The first phase will include a 30-story tower with 434 units, and the second phase will include a 20-story tower with 198 units. A large amenities deck on top of the parking structure will feature canopy trees and trellis structures for shade, raised community garden beds, a shaded keiki play area, fitness center, indoor community rooms, a bark park and dog wash, swimming pool and BBQ areas. The community will also place residents within walking distance to mass transit, employment centers and a wide variety of neighborhood services.
About Highridge Costa
Since 1994, California-based Highridge Costa has been changing lives through the development, preservation, ownership and operation of quality new and repositioned affordable, workforce, family, senior and permanent supportive housing. Having developed nearly 310 communities and more than 30,000 affordable homes throughout the United States and Puerto Rico, Highridge Costa focuses on creating attractive, architecturally significant, multifamily living environments that integrate seamlessly into rural, suburban and city neighborhoods. Its expertise with federal Section 42 Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) utilizing tax-exempt mortgage-backed revenue bonds and other federal, state and local housing loan and grant programs make it one of the nation’s most knowledgeable developers and asset managers in the the highly specialized affordable housing industry. . To learn more, visit https://www.hcosta.com.
Patrick S Duffy
MetroIntelligence
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