DOWNTOWN : South Park Project Gets More Funding

The city’s Community Redevelopment Agency has approved $2.5 million to partially fund a 75-unit low-income senior citizen apartment building in South Park, the first new building in the planned development of a block-long neighborhood of housing built around a scenic courtyard.

The CRA money will be added to the already-approved $7 million from the federal Housing and Urban Development Department obtained by the 1010 Senior Housing Corp., a nonprofit subsidiary of the First United Methodist Church, Los Angeles.

The six-story apartment building, to be constructed on a vacant lot in the 1000 block of South Flower Street, will include underground parking, a multipurpose room and a courtyard.

Construction is expected to begin in October and should take about 18 months, said David Riccitiello, a project manager with the CRA.

The apartment building is the first scheduled construction in a development area bounded by Olympic Boulevard and Hope, 11th and Flower streets. Property within the area is owned by the CRA, the First United Methodist Church and TELACU Development Corp.

First United owns an office building at Olympic and Flower, which now houses its sanctuary. The only other existing building on the block was recently rehabilitated by TELACU and offers 40 units of housing for the disabled.