By Daily Press staff
A Santa Monica architecture firm is putting a touch of class onto Skid Row in downtown LA with a new hotel for the homeless.
Killefer Flammang Architects has designed a contemporary-styled 80-unit hotel to serve homeless and low-income residents. Developed by the non-profit, SRO Housing Corporation, the Yankee Hotel, 501 Seventh St., will serve those who earn less than 50 percent of the Los Angeles County median income.
Primarily conceived for the homeless, “The Yankee SRO (single room occupancy) facility will provide an ambiance to foster hope and self pride,” said executive director Anita Nelson, whose firm has developed 22 SRO projects, housing some 1,600 residents.
“In the past 20 years, we have learned that clean, decent and affordable housing has a pronounced salutary impact on those who are without hope and often motivates them to overcome adversity,” Nelson added.
SRO tenants come from diverse backgrounds, she points out, adding that many are college graduates who, somehow, get hooked on drugs and/or alcohol and suddenly find themselves on the streets.
One tenant, a former set designer and high school teacher, after a series of setbacks culminating in an arrest for burglary, took up residence in an SRO Housing residence while attending an out-patient drug treatment program.
Today, he works as an associate producer for an independent film company.
In addition to the support services the organization offers — job training, health screenings, money management and recreational activities — its forthcoming Yankee Hotel will incorporate several new amenities.
Besides providing shelter, explains architect Wade Killefer, the Yankee Hotel will have a contemporary street presence, and its apartments and common areas will be grouped around a landscaped courtyard to provide a tranquil setting in contrast to the industrial buildings which surround the complex. And with some 445 square feet per unit, Yankee units also will be larger than most SRO dwellings.
Moreover, says Killefer, whose firm has designed some 2,000 units of low income multi-family and SRO dwellings, as well as some 2,400 adaptive reuse loft apartments downtown, the construction cost of $6.7 million will be less than $100 per square foot.
The exterior of the four-level building — highlighted by glass block infill and balconies and awnings to enliven street elevations — incorporates the brick façade of the original building, said Killefer, a recipient of the LINC Award for distinguished service to the low-income housing community.
A variety of sources provide funding for its projects: The city’s Community Redevelopment Agency, HUD, the California Department of Housing and Community Development, the Los Angeles Community Development Department, Federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits and private investors, officials said.
Founded in 1984, SRO Housing is the largest provider of affordable single room occupancy housing in the western United States. Its major venue of operations is the city’s central city east/Skid Row neighborhood, which encompasses about 50 square blocks between Third and Seventh, and Main and Alameda streets.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 1, 2004. Read the original PDF.