Big, colorful apartment complex near Chinatown officially opens

LA Plaza Village complex is hard to miss. Not only is it prominently located, straddling Broadway at César Chávez Avenue, but it’s striking, with a vivid exterior that uses 34 distinct colors of paint in shades of orange, red, blue, and yellow.

The development, built on two county-owned parking lots, is home to four new murals, including a 70-foot-tall piece by Judithe Hernández, an acclaimed LA-based muralist who has been active since the 1970s.

Developer Trammell Crow installed the new public art pieces “with hopes to ignite a new mural corridor along Broadway Street.”

After about two years of construction, the colorful, four-building shopping and apartment complex, with units priced from $2,000 to $4,890 a month, will officially open today.

Also developed by High Street Residential, La Plaza de Cultura y Artes, and the César Chávez Foundation, the complex is situated in a central location, and is poised to act as a connection between Chinatown, El Pueblo, and Hill Street and the Fort Moore memorial, by way of a string light-lit “paseo” that bisects the development. The paseo and other landscape architecture at the project was designed by SWA. Another walkway is planned by the La Plaza museum to go all the way to Union Station.

“LA Plaza Village is as much about connectivity and open space for the public as it is about a needed supply of market rate and affordable residential apartments,” Brad Cox of Trammell Crow Company said in a statement.

Designed by Johnson Fain, LA Plaza ranges from five to eight stories tall and holds 355 units—71 of which are affordable and reserved for tenants making 60 to 80 percent of the area median income. Apartments include studios, one-, two-, and three-bedroom units, and include keyless entry, in-unit laundry machines, stainless steel appliances, and, in the majority of units, balconies.

Along the ground floor of LA Plaza are storefronts for retail, a few of which are already spoken for: The Cesar Chavez Foundation is poised to move its headquarters to a spot in LA Plaza on the west side of Broadway early next year, and a Mexican food museum is slated for another spot in the complex.

Courtesy of Trammell Crow Company

The development’s website shows that studios start at around $2,000 a month, while one-bedrooms range from $2,400 to $3,350. Two-bedrooms start at $3,250 and three-bedroom units start at $4,890 a month.

Amenities include a double-height gym, a large pool deck and lounge area, a dog-washing area, and communal spaces in each building.

Courtesy of Trammell Crow Company

Courtesy of Trammell Crow Company

The project isn’t entirely finished. Trammell Crow is working now to add a mid-block crosswalk that would connect the paseo across Broadway and make it easier for pedestrians to get between shops on both sides. But the crosswalk is considered a separate project, and its timeline for completion is unclear.

The buildings in LA Plaza opened one at a time, starting earlier this year. Now, the apartments are 55 percent leased, said a Trammell Crow representative. Retail is 40 percent leased.