Kennedy Wilson, Jamison Plan 4,000 Affordable Units in LA

Kennedy Wilson and Jamison are joining forces to deliver roughly 4,000 affordable housing units across Los Angeles, pairing two of the region’s most active real estate players in a bet that adaptive reuse and ground-up construction can chip away at the city’s housing shortage. The joint venture links Kennedy Wilson’s affordable development platform, Vintage Housing, with Arden Residential, the newly launched affordable arm of downtown landlord Jamison.

Why it matters. Los Angeles has leaned hard on office-to-residential conversions as vacancy lingers in its aging commercial towers, and the city’s adaptive reuse ordinance has made those deals easier to pencil. A pipeline of 4,000 income-restricted units from a single partnership is a meaningful addition in a market where affordable supply consistently trails demand.

The numbers. The venture opens with the conversion of the former LA World Trade Center at 350 S. Figueroa Street, a roughly 400,000-square-foot complex that will be rebranded as Sky Castle and reworked into 512 apartments. The first phase targets 241 units on the building’s concourse levels, with a second phase adding 271 units in the tower above. Homes are aimed at households earning between 30% and 80% of the area median income, spanning one-, two- and three-bedroom floor plans. Kennedy Wilson has grown its Vintage Housing platform to more than 13,000 units across the West since taking an equity stake in 2015.

What’s next. Construction on the Sky Castle project’s first phase is slated to begin in August. Nicholas Bridges, Kennedy Wilson’s Global Head of Capital Markets, framed the tie-up as “providing much-needed affordable housing in our backyard, the City of Los Angeles.” Beyond Sky Castle, the partners have signaled additional sites across the city, combining conversions of underused office stock with new development to reach the 4,000-unit goal over the coming years.