619 Westlake

619 Westlake integrates affordable housing with sustainable transportation to meet California’s equity and climate goals.

Located just East of MacArthur Park in Los Angeles, 619 Westlake sits on a City-owned property that was identified as a potential site for affordable housing. Through a request for proposal process, the City of Los Angeles selected Meta Housing to redevelop the site, with an additional objective to reactivate the corridor that encompasses the historic Westlake theater and the Metro Westlake/MacArthur Park Station.

619 Westlake is now a 78-unit apartment community for households earning between 30% and 60% of the area’s median income. Half of the units are reserved for people who have faced the challenges of homelessness.

The building features two towers of three-bedroom apartments, linked by a dramatic “bridge” of one-bedroom units. The bridge section spans a lush, landscaped courtyard underneath the building, which delivers a creative interaction between public and private spaces. The ground floor contains a community wing for resident programming, as well as a social services wing where the County of Los Angeles’ Department of Health Services provides case management for residents.

The scope of the project moves beyond affordable housing to include transit infrastructure improvements financed through the State’s Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities program.

The Project’s transit-related improvements include: the first Class IV bikeway in the Westlake neighborhood, directly adjacent to MacArthur Park; a half mile of Class III bikeway tailored to the needs of Westlake and connecting the historically disadvantaged neighborhood to existing bike infrastructure; key sidewalk and crosswalk upgrades; the purchase of two new electric buses for the DASH line; and a workforce development partnership with PV Jobs, a non-profit organization that helps train and place at-risk youth, adults, and veterans into jobs in the neighborhood.