The Lorena Plaza apartments, located on a Metro-owned property on the corner of Lorena and 1st Streets, opened its doors Friday.
The mixed-use, four-story Boyle Heights development offers 48 units of housing for low-income families and households that have experienced homelessness, with half of the units set aside for veterans. Units at the property include studios and one- to three-bedroom apartments.
Mayor Karen Bass spoke at the dedication ceremony and acknowledged that the development of Lorena Plaza was plagued by years of red tape.
She credited an executive order she signed in 2022 with helping accelerate the opening. The order, Executive Directive 1, helps expedite the building of affordable housing developments across Los Angeles. Bass signed the directive on the grounds of what is now Lorena Plaza.
“This day has to be one of the best days of my administration,” Bass said. “We need more and more great days like this in Los Angeles.”
The project dates to a 2013 joint development deal between Metro and nonprofit developer A Community of Friends (ACOF).
It faced vigorous opposition from former Councilmember José Huízar, who originally voted against it as a member of the Metro board, as well as from the owners of El Mercado, who claimed that an abandoned oil rig had polluted the lot and sued the city to stop the project.
The Los Angeles City Council gave the project its approval in 2018, but it took ACOF nearly four years to secure funding. In 2022, the developer began recapping the abandoned oil well, at a cost of $1.7 million. Construction was completed in 2024, according to the developer.
The housing units sit above 7,500 square feet of retail space and are offered to families earning $29,460-49,100 a year, 30% to 50% of the city’s area median income of $98,200.
Lorena Plaza will have an on-site manager and provide case management, life skills classes, and substance use recovery assistance to its tenants among other resources.
At the ceremony, Councilmember Ysabel Jurado called the complex a “long time coming.”
“The dual housing and homeless crisis we’re experiencing necessitates collaboration across sectors and that’s exactly what happened here at Lorena Plaza,” Jurado said. “I’m thrilled for the residents of Lorena Plaza to experience all this community has to offer… Despite the hurdles, here it stands.”
Lorena Plaza is located about a quarter-mile north of the Metro E Line Indiana Station in Boyle Heights and represents one of Metro’s transit-oriented housing projects.
L.A. County Supervisor Hilda Solis spoke at the ceremony and lauded the project and its role in Metro’s goal to build 10,000 units of housing by 2031.
“We know that this area has often been neglected,” Solis told Boyle Heights Beat. “We have a high number of people who are homeless and on the streets and a growing number of Latinos who are becoming homeless and we need to figure out how to address it.”
There is way too much violence and drug/criminal activity in Boyle Heights. I’m happy people are getting housed. I hope they get linked to resources that will help them overcome barriers and maintain housing.