If your idea of the American Dream is living at Costco, then you should head West. That’s because South Los Angeles will soon welcome a new 185,000-square-foot Costco that will also be home to 800 apartments. Oh, and if you need to cool down after all that shopping, the complex will also include a rooftop pool.
Fast Company reports that the project broke ground earlier today and was made possible thanks in part to a new California law. The law, AB 2011, speeds up the building process by allowing commercial projects to bypass an environmental law if they provide affordable housing. The development that includes the Costco will reportedly have 184 units for low-income tenants.
“It is really hard to build in the city of Los Angeles, and there’s political baggage around big box in particular,” Matt Lewis, communications director for the nonprofit California YIMBY, shared with Fast Company. “So I would bet my money that they were probably looking at the site and saying, ‘They’ll never let us just build a Costco.’”
Although construction for the development has just begun, criticism is already rolling in. Joe Cohen (@CohenSite) referred to the project as “Costco Prison” in a scathing tweet that has gone viral.
For those in support of the new warehouse, what’s the first order of business in your Costco apartment? Rotisserie chickens by the rooftop pool? Early morning Costco bakery runs? Buy-in-bulk Mondays?
Danielle Harling is an Atlanta-based freelance writer with a love for colorfully designed-spaces, craft cocktails and online window shopping (usually for budget-shattering designer heels). Her past work has appeared on Fodor’s, Forbes, MyDomaine, Architectural Digest and more.
