Soon-Shiong's NantWorks wins Redondo Beach nod for 158 homes
A billionaire's industrial-to-residential conversion clears entitlement, over the city's preference for a jobs center.
Redondo Beach has approved NantWorks’ plan to redevelop a former Frontier Communications facility into 158 homes, handing biotech billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong an entitlement win on a site his firm has held since 2019. For developers, it is another data point on how coastal California cities are trading employment land for housing.
Why it matters
The approval is a case study in the industrial-to-residential conversion that is reshaping infill LA. NantWorks bought the six-acre parcel with its 137,100-square-foot industrial park in 2019 and, after years of holding it, won approval to build homes instead of jobs. That the city greenlit housing even as its mayor said he would have preferred a jobs center signals how heavily the entitlement calculus has tilted toward residential in supply-constrained coastal markets. For developers sitting on obsolete commercial or industrial land, the read is that a well-structured mixed-income plan can now clear where an employment use once would have been the default.
The numbers
The project at 2819 182nd Street delivers 158 residences: 131 townhomes and 27 affordable units, on the six-acre site.
“My preference was this vacant Frontier site would be a jobs center to address our jobs [to] household ratio,” said Redondo Beach Mayor Jim Light, underscoring that the approval came despite reservations at the top.
What’s next
Watch whether the affordable-unit count and the townhome format become the template for converting South Bay industrial parcels in greater Los Angeles. With entitlement secured on land held since 2019, the next question is timing: whether NantWorks moves to build in a high-cost construction environment or markets the now-entitled site to a residential specialist.