The first Costco, with 800 apartments, will open in Baldwin Hills, a South Los Angeles neighborhood that Census Reporters found has a poverty rate 25 percent higher than the national average.
The complex includes 184 apartments for low-income families, with the remaining units offered as a mix of unsubsidized, affordable and workforce housing. There will also be a rooftop pool and fitness center.
The downstairs Costco will have 185,000 square feet of space and two levels of underground parking. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the average Costco in the U.S. is 146,000 square feet, making this Costco above average.
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Real estate developer Thrive Living is preparing to begin construction on a Costco apartment complex in early 2025, according to a Wall Street Journal report published earlier this month. When built, the complex will be the first residential development in the country to include a Costco downstairs.
Photo courtesy of Thrive Living
Thrive Living founder Ben Shaul told the Journal that Costco will pay the rent for the space and the proceeds will allow Thrive Living to reduce its reliance on government subsidies for affordable housing in the complex. He said he could.
If the model works, Shaul says he hopes to use the same concept to build “thousands of apartments every year, not just hundreds.”
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The Costco apartment complex will cost $425 million to build and is expected to be completed in 2027.
Construction of the complex will create thousands of jobs, and the opening of Costco will create up to 400 new jobs, according to a press release from Thrive Living.
This project is the first to receive approval under the Congressional Bill of 2011 or the Affordable Housing and Highway Jobs Act. A California law that took effect across the state on July 1, 2023 speeds up the approval process for projects that meet affordability and labor standards.
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