Millennium South Bay (MSB) is a 230-unit LEED® Gold Certified apartment community located in the rapidly growing city of Hawthorne, CA. The property is located on more than 2.5 acres, encompasses two 5-story residential buildings around a 7-story parking garage, and sits on top of 3,100 square feet of retail space. In addition to being a LEED® Gold Certified community, amenities include outdoor courtyards with gas grills, fireplaces & TVs, a large fitness center with direct access to an outdoor courtyard, pool deck, hot tub, gas grills, social lounge, TVs, kitchen area & private work booth, co-working spaces with private workrooms, conference rooms, a resident bar, Wi-Fi in all indoor & outdoor amenity spaces, bike storage, and more.

As a transit-oriented property located directly adjacent to Interstate 105, residents benefit from unparalleled access to major employment centers throughout Los Angeles. Another bonus of the location is the close proximity to public transit, as Metro’s C (Green) Line Crenshaw Station sits only two blocks away. The Green Line provides convenient access to many jobs in the area and intersects with the Blue Line providing easy rail access into Downtown Los Angeles. MSB is also located 10-minutes from LAX and 3 miles away from Sofi Stadium, an entertainment destination, and the state-of-the-art 70,000 seat stadium.

Prior to the acquisition of MSB, the community operated as an unrestricted luxury market-rate property. Hawthorne is one of the most supply-constrained submarkets in Los Angeles County and is in the middle of a severe housing shortage with zero properties under construction, zero properties planned, and zero properties proposed. MSB is the only property in Hawthorne that has more than 200 units. Standard Communities partnered with the City of Hawthorne and CSCDA Community Improvement Authority to purchase the property using tax-exempt bond financing and convert MSB to workforce housing utilizing California’s innovative public-private partnership structure designed to facilitate the creation of workforce housing. Units are restricted to 80%, 100%, and 120% of the area median income (AMI) rent limits, with 33% of units reserved for 80% AMI, 33% of units reserved for 100% AMI, and 33% of units reserved for 120% AMI. MSB will stay affordable for the next 30 years.

MSB was an innovative project in many ways, including how the team was able to transition the community from market-rate to workforce housing, the addition of a large solar array that produces 250,000kWH per year, lowering utility costs for residents, and the formation of a partnership to provide low-cost broadband internet to residents.

Location: Hawthorne, California
Developer: Standard Communities and Faring