A major mixed-use wellness and education campus next to Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in Willowbrook has won county approval.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors late last month approved the 14-acre mixed-use wellness and education campus project on a parcel owned by the Compton Unified School District.
The project, which is a joint venture between Charles Drew University and Culver City-based affordable housing developer Century Housing Corp., has a preliminary estimated costof $435 million.
When fully built out, the project is expected to contain 500 affordable housing units, 121,000 square feet of offices, laboratories, and bioscience space, a trio of athletic/recreational facilities, a 700-space parking structure and promenade space.
The affordable housing units would be split among three different target groups: 250 units for families in the community, 200 units for students at Charles Drew University and 50 units for faculty and workforce housing. The athletic facilities would include a gymnasium, indoor swimming pool and an athletic field.
“The wellness and education campus is a catalyst for community transformation and a once-in-a-generation investment in Willowbrook,” David Carlisle, president of Charles Drew University, said in a statement after the county board vote. “By bringing education, affordable housing, research, recreation and healthcare together in one place, we are creating a vibrant neighborhood hub where individuals and families can thrive,” he added.
Next stage for HBCU
According to a university spokeswoman, roughly $22 million has been raised so far for the project from the university and the Los Angeles County Development Authority, which, among other things, administers the county’s Section 8 housing voucher program.
The developers have applied for $17 million in Section 8 vouchers held by the development authority, though final awards are still pending.
The spokeswoman said the development team is seeking additional funds from public financing and low-income tax credit programs.
Assuming enough funding is on hand, groundbreaking could take place late next year, with the first phase completed in late 2029. But full buildout isn’t expected until about 2050. Charles Drew University is a Historically Black Graduate Institution and one of four historically Black medical colleges in the country. It was founded in 1966 in response to the Watts riots the previous year and is also California’s only historically Black college and university institution.
The university this past weekend held a ribbon-cutting for a new 60,000-square-foot health professions education building on its campus.
