L.A. MTA Approves Largest Transit-Oriented Development

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority has entered a joint development agreement for District NoHo, its largest residential project to date.

The transit agency, known as Metro, has approved an agreement with NOHO Development Associates LLC, an affiliate of Trammell Crow and High Street Residential, on a transit-oriented mixed-use project that envisions building more than 1,400 apartments above Metro’s North Hollywood Station.

The 12-acre project will combine low-income housing, retail, office and open space, according to a report in LA Business First.

The District NoHo project will be built in up to nine phases, with the first one including 570 mixed-income apartments, and at least 311 of those reserved for renters earning less than 60% of the median income in Los Angeles County. The development, which aligns with Metro’s Vision 2028 Strategic Plan, will include more than two acres of publicly accessible space.

The Strategic Plan’s Joint Development Program is aiming to expand Metro’s housing portfolio to 10,000 units by 2031, half of which will be reserved at affordable rents for lower and moderate-income households.

“We have to get creative if we’re going to build the housing we need in L.A. County, and District NoHo is an ambitious model of how we can maximize the space around our stations,” said Janice Hahn, an L.A. County Supervisor who is the Metro Board chair, at this month’s board meeting approving the District NoHo project.

“Metro has a strong interest in ensuring the people who ride public transportation can afford to live near it. By directly linking Metro’s network to housing, employment, retail and commercial opportunities, Metro expects to continue to grow transit ridership,” said company CEO Stephanie Wiggins.

According to plans approved last year by the Los Angeles City Planning Commission, District NoHo will rise on Metro-owned land near the intersection of Lankershim and Chandler Boulevards, most of which is now vacant or serves as a park-and-ride lot.

The plans approved last year subdivided the property into nine different blocks that would be filled with 1,481 apartments; 60K SF of retail and restaurant space; up to 450K SF of office space; and 87K SF of parking, with 750 spaces reserved for Metro bus and rail passengers. The District NoHo plans to envision two residential towers and an office tower.

The two acres of publicly accessible open space will include three different plazas, a new entrance to the B Line subway on the west side of Lankershim and improvements to the G Line busway terminus.