The Los Angeles City Council has signed off on the $2-billion Fourth & Central mixed-use development, clearing a major entitlement hurdle for one of the largest projects of its kind in the city’s history. The approval advances a long-planned transformation of a site currently used for cold storage, warehouse operations and parking into a large-scale mixed-use community.
Under the approved plan, the industrial property will be redeveloped with 1,521 apartments, including both rental and for-sale units. The residential component will be complemented by a significant commercial program, featuring 400,000 square feet of office space designed to bring employment uses into the project.
The plans also call for more than 100,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space, adding a substantial food-and-beverage and neighborhood-serving retail element to the site. In addition, the development is set to include two acres of public open space, creating outdoor areas intended to serve residents, workers and visitors.
Larry Rauch, president of Los Angeles Cold Storage, which currently occupies the property, noted that the team has been working on the concept for several years. He described the initiative as an effort to convert an industrial asset into a mixed-use community, emphasizing that the decision to pursue the project reflects a long-term commitment to the city and confidence in its future.
Rauch first put forward the Fourth & Central proposal in 2021. Earlier iterations of the plan included a hotel component, but that element has since been removed from the project program. The current version centers on the combination of residential, office, retail and public open space uses now approved by the City Council.
With entitlements in place, the development team is turning its attention to the next phase of work. According to reporting by the Los Angeles Times, the team will prepare construction drawings and complete other pre-construction tasks as it progresses toward a potential groundbreaking. Current expectations are that construction could begin in approximately two years, subject to completion of these next steps.
The approval of Fourth & Central marks a notable shift for the existing industrial site, positioning it for a large mixed-use redevelopment that will add substantial housing, office and retail capacity to the Los Angeles market once built out.
