This New Costco Looks To Bring Affordable Housing To Los Angeles

When you’re traveling, the question of whether you’d want to live in a new place often comes up. The people, cultures, and lifestyle can really highlight the differences from home. Whether you actually make the leap to uproot your life is another story, but imagining it is exciting—a dream few get to experience.

Here’s a fun scenario: Would you live above a magical store that sells things in bulk at reasonable prices, hands out free samples, and bakes warm chocolate chip cookies, makes delicious pizza, smoothies, shakes, and serves up a foot-long pastry called a “chicken bake”? It sounds too good to be true, but it’s actually happening.

Developer Thrive Living is transforming a five-acre site near Coliseum Street and La Brea Avenue in Baldwin Village, Los Angeles, into a mixed-use complex featuring a fan-favorite: Costco, along with residential rental units.

Named “5035 Coliseum,” this is the first housing project in Los Angeles moving forward under state law AB 2011, which streamlines approvals for apartment and mixed-use projects that include low-income housing. “I don’t know if we’d be here today, or even in the future, if it wasn’t for this assembly bill,” said Jordan Brill of Thrive Living. “This bill is designed to create jobs, housing, and quality retail.”

The development will feature 800 apartment units above the new Costco, with 23% (184 units) set aside for low-income households. The remaining units will be non-subsidized affordable and workforce housing, all eligible for residents with Section 8 vouchers. This is the first project to use Costco as its retail tenant in a mixed-use space.

Although construction is expected to take two and a half years, there’s no firm timeline yet. While that may feel like a long wait, officials promise it will be worth it.

Gina Fields, Chairperson of Empowerment Congress West Area, is committed to ensuring this project remains affordable for long-term residents.

“I think the biggest thing that we had to conquer… was making sure that it was affordable so that the people who live here can stay here” she said. “Being able to overcome that challenge, and having Thrive and Costco work with us to overcome that challenge, has been a big, big, big thing in our community. Because everybody is concerned about being displaced.”

These are promising words, especially given how valid community concerns are. As Los Angeles becomes more expensive, it will take some serious convincing to make sure people don’t see this as just another case of gentrification.

A surefire way to win over the community? Price the units like Costco’s famous hot dog and soda combo. Yes, I fully expect a two-bed, two-bath for $1.50.