Mercy Housing breaks ground on Jefferson Park Terrace

 WHA has completed an extensive design and entitlement process and construction documentation for the project, located near the new Metro Expo Line and about one mile from USC in the historic Jefferson Park neighborhood south of downtown Los Angeles.

The historic Fatburger stand was established in 1947 by the entrepreneurial African-American Lovie Yancey who loved early Soul and Rock & Roll music and nurtured some of its pioneer musicians and entertainers such as Redd Foxx and Ray Charles.  The original stand has been vacant for many years and has been moved to allow for construction of the three-level over one-level at-grade podium building.  The stand will be relocated to the corner of Western Avenue and 31^st Street, integrated into the project, and restored to its 1952 “heyday” appearance.  WHA is working with the historic architecture specialists Kaplan Chen Kaplan of Santa Monica on the Fatburger portion of the project. 

The design process involved working closely with numerous neighborhood organizations, LA/CRA, the Los Angeles Housing Authority, and many others.  The new building will convey Streamline Moderne imagery through form, texture and color and will provide families with enhanced facilities such as a computer lab, multipurpose room for recreation and programmed classes, gray water recycling for the community gardens, a tot lot, and more.  It is targeted for LEED^TM Silver certification and completion in 2013.