A major US city is tackling it housing crisis with creative house-building projects, including on top of a Costco.
Real-estate developer Thrive Living believes it has found a solution to affordable housing with its plans to build 800 apartments on top of a Costco in Los Angeles.
The complex will begin construction early this year on top of a Costco in Baldwin Village, South Los Angeles.
The complex will include a rooftop pool and fitness center, according to plans for the building reported in the Wall Street Journal.
The $425 million development will also feature 184 apartments for low-income households.
Once the property is ready, sometime in 2027, Thrive plans to partner with the local Housing Authority to provide rent vouchers to low-income tenants in at least 100 of the units.
Costco, built-in to the ground floor of the building, will pay Thrive rent which will help the development rely less on government subsidies to provide the affordable housing, Thrive said.
‘I want to build thousands and thousands of apartments every year, not hundreds,’ Thrive’s founder, Ben Shaoul told the Journal.
A real estate developer plans to build 800 apartments on top of a Costco in Los Angeles
Thrive’s hope is that Costco will benefit by gaining access to a densely populated urban area with a direct customer base on its doorstep.
Costco makes billions every year from its annual membership fee, and could see as many as 1,600 new sign-ups just from the residents of the LA complex alone.
This is in contrast to the majority of Costco locations which are usually in suburban locations and only accessible by car.
The warehouse-based retailer has made a concerted effort in recent year to move further into cities with smaller stores.
Costco also tends to own rather than rent the real estate of its stores, in contrast to the plans for the Baldwin Village location.
Shaoul said the plans came about after Costco approached him about renting the space which he initially planned to be a solely commercial building.
Baldwin Village is a lower-income neighborhood of the upscale Baldwin Hills area of Los Angeles.
Baldwin Village has a poverty rate more than double the national average, according to the Journal.
Thrive’s founder Ben Shaoul has plans to introduce the concept to more cities in the US
The site has received support from notable figures in the community including the city’s Mayor Karen Bass who used to live in the nearby.
Los Angeles is at the sharp end of a national housing shortage of around 3.7 million homes, according to estimates by Freddie Mac.
The city is also seeing the destruction of thousands of homes as wildfires continue to rage across the city.
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