South L.A.-based Bakewell Co. and New Jersey-based Michaels Organization have been selected to develop an 8-acre site at the corner of Slauson Avenue and Wall Street in South Los Angeles.
 
The project will cost an estimated $239 million.
The Bakewell and Michaels Organization partnership was chosen in a request-for-proposal process, beating out four other development companies.

The plans call for the development of 525 apartments, including 280 non-subsidized workforce apartments targeted at essential workers like teachers who earn about 150% of the area’s median income. The other 245 units will be made affordable for families and seniors. The site will also include a 60,000-square-foot park; 65,000 square feet of community residential space; a Superior Foods supermarket; a business incubator space; retail space; and a 30,000-square-foot office building for the Los Angeles Brotherhood Crusade.

The Los Angeles Brotherhood Crusade owns part of the site and will be a partner in the development. The group will also operate community programs at the site.

Danny Bakewell Jr., executive vice president of development at the company his father founded more than 40 years ago, said there is a “real need” for housing in the area.

Bakewell said the company partnered with Michaels Organization, which is known for affordable housing, to “ensure that we can maximize the opportunity for tax credits and put together a first-class affordable housing development, which is desperately needed in Southern California and Los Angeles in particular.”

Bakewell said the retail component would bring “opportunities to small, local businesses.”

“We looked at the space and we looked at understanding the community and the variety of needs that the community has. That area of Slauson desperately needs some retail opportunities,” he said.

Bakewell said the company worked on a “laundry list of what are all the needs” of the community before deciding on the uses.

It wasn’t all smooth sailing, though. Bakewell said the RFP process, in which multiple companies essentially bid for a project, was “a challenge because it happened right in the middle of Covid.”

After submitting the proposal, it took a few months for it to go to the Los Angeles City Council, he added.

“The extra time allowed us to come up with some great ideas and some great partners,” Bakewell said.