Key keywords: Kennedy Wilson, Jamison Properties, Los Angeles World Trade Center, affordable housing conversion, LA housing crisis, commercial-to-residential adaptive reuse, mixed-income residential development, downtown Los Angeles residential expansion Two leading real estate firms, Kennedy Wilson and Jamison, have announced a landmark partnership to convert the iconic Los Angeles World Trade Center complex in downtown LA into a 4,000-unit residential community, with a core focus on expanding access to affordable housing for low- and middle-income residents across the region. The announcement comes amid a worsening housing affordability crisis in Los Angeles, where recent data shows the city has a shortage of more than 500,000 affordable housing units for households earning less than 80% of the area median income (AMI), and rent costs have risen 25% over the past five years, pushing tens of thousands of residents into housing instability or homelessness. The 12-acre LA World Trade Center site, which has operated primarily as a commercial office and convention complex since the 1970s, has seen office occupancy rates drop to below 40% in the post-pandemic era, as many corporate tenants shifted to hybrid or remote work models. Rather than demolishing the existing structures, the two firms will pursue a commercial-to-residential adaptive reuse strategy, which will cut overall development costs by an estimated 20% and reduce construction-related carbon emissions by more than 35% compared to ground-up new construction, aligning with the city’s climate action goals. Of the 4,000 planned residential units, 40% will be designated as permanently affordable, reserved for households earning between 30% and 80% of the Los Angeles AMI, including frontline healthcare workers, public school teachers, hospitality staff, and other essential service workers who have been increasingly priced out of the downtown LA housing market. The remaining 60% of units will be priced at market rate, but will include targeted rent discounts for first responders and local small business employees as part of the project’s community benefit agreement. The development will also include 75,000 square feet of community-focused amenities, including a public community garden, an on-site childcare center operated by a local non-profit, affordable grocery space, free after-school programming for resident children, and 2 acres of publicly accessible open space for neighborhood residents. The project has already received preliminary approval from the Los Angeles City Planning Department under the city’s Adaptive Reuse Incentive Program, which offers tax abatements, reduced permit fees, and accelerated approval timelines for projects that convert underused commercial space to residential use, especially those with affordable housing components. Construction is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2025, with the first batch of 1,200 units expected to welcome residents by late 2026, and full build-out completed by 2029. Local housing policy experts estimate the project will reduce the city’s unmet affordable housing need for downtown LA by nearly 12%, making it one of the largest single-site affordable housing developments in the city’s history.