Isela Gracian, president of East LA Community Corp, and the project site at 113 S. Soto Street (Credit: Google Maps)
East LA Community Corporation, an affordable housing developer, is adding to its list of projects for low-income tenants in the Boyle Heights area.
This week, the corporation applied for a five-story mixed-use development with 63 residential units of affordable housing and 4,265 square feet of ground-floor commercial space.
The project, if approved will rise above 113 S. Soto Street, on the same road as two other affordable housing properties that the firm manages. The site includes six parcels totaling 47,000 square feet. It includes an empty lot next to the light rail Soto Station.
East LA Community Corporation manages about 20 properties in the East Los Angeles area. Last year, the city approved the firm’s Cielito Lindo Apartments in Boyle Heights — a four-story building with 28 units for low-income residents.
In the past two years, Boyle Heights has struggled to secure affordable housing. There have been rent strikes and backlash over gentrification and at the prospect of homeless housing developments.
Boyle Heights also saw one of the biggest projects completed in L.A. last year with the Big Bear development. It includes a 491,000-square-foot industrial facility, an office building and truck yard at 1400 South Los Palos Street.