A Pasadena-based developer's plans to build new housing and retail in Leimert Park is scheduled for consideration at the November 5 meeting of the Los Angeles City Planning Commission.

In late 2019, Community Builders Group submitted plans to the City of Los Angeles to redevelop a car wash and an auto repair shop at 4218-4242 S. Crenshaw Boulevard with a five-story building featuring 124 apartments - including 14 affordable units - above 6,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space.  The project would include a combination of studio, one-, and two-bedroom dwellings, as well as parking for 60 vehicles in an at-grade garage.

Architect Stanley Saitowitz is designing the apartment complex, which is divided into seven blocks that are differentiated by red and white coloring.  Architectural plans show an amenity deck spanning across the building's roof level, with additional open space provided through a ground-floor plaza and private balconies for residents.

The proposed development and its design have previously received the support of both the Crenshaw Corridor Design Review Board and the Empowerment Congress West Area Neighborhood Council.

A staff report to the Planning Commission recommends that Commissioners should vote to approve the project's requested entitlements - including density bonus incentives - and determine that the 4242 Crenshaw development should be exempted from review under the California Environmental Quality Act.

The proposed apartment complex would rise directly north of 4252 Crenshaw Boulevard, a modular housing development which was completed in 2019 by Universal Standard Housing.  Another third residential complex is slated for the former site of the Liquor Bank across the street.

The project site will also sit midway between Metro's under-construction Leimert Park and Martin Luther King Jr. Stations, which are expected to open as part of the Crenshaw/LAX light rail line in 2021.