Costco plans to build 800-unit apartment complex to ease housing crisis

Big-box wholesaler Costco is developing a mixed-use complex that seeks to put a dent in the affordable housing crisis.

The company plans to open a new store in South Los Angeles and has teamed with developers Thrive Living and architects AO to build an 800-unit apartment complex — with 184 units set aside for affordable housing.

Costco had revealed the combo retail-housing project – to be built in Baldwin Village by developers Thrive Living and architects AO – in a press release early last year.

A Thrive Living representative told the Post on Thursday the project is still awaiting permits and it is unknown when construction would begin.

“The planning and land use system in California and in LA is a Rube Goldberg machine,” housing activist Joe Cohen told SFGATE, “and this project is seeing that machine laid bare.”

Costco did not immediately respond to reporters’ efforts.

The mixed-use complex would rise on a vacant, five-acre lot that was previously home to a hospital. 

The plans include a gym, multi-purpose spaces, gardens, a rooftop pool, landscaping and a large parking lot, according to the press release.

It’s “a bunch of small units along these long hallways, with a massive recreation center as an amenity space,” Cohen told SFGATE. “From a plain view, it looks like an old school prison design.”

In a post to X earlier this month that gained traction and racked up nearly 3 million views, Cohen speculated that Costco tacked the apartment building idea onto its plans for a large storefront on the property to avoid Los Angeles’ often costly and drawn-out site review process. 

He told SFGATE that at least two-thirds of the 185,000-square-foot plan must be allocated toward housing under state law for Costco to enjoy a quicker, cheaper building process.

Perhaps even more of a standout than the site’s so-called “prison design” is its building method: using pre-manufactured apartment modules that can be loaded off trucks onto the site, another way to keep the project timely and relatively cheap.

The Costco store itself is nothing to shrug off. The storefront will be close to mass transit options and will include a multi-floor, underground garage, pharmacy, optical site and more, according to SFGATE.

“Mayor Bass has declared a housing emergency in Los Angeles, and we’re answering the call,” said Jordan Brill of Thrive Living in a statement included in the press release. “Our company is focused on addressing the severe housing affordability crisis in Los Angeles, while also attracting retailers willing to make long-term commitments.”