It’s official gentrification has arrived at our door South LA. An 11-acre parcel next to the Expo Line’s La Cienega and Jefferson Stations is slated for a massive mixed-use development consisting of residential, commercial, a grocery store, and a 30 story tower. In a neighborhood where the tallest building is 4 stories high this project is widely disproportionate to the community. Carmel Parteners have released conceputal renderings and a draft environmental impact report via Urbanize LA, that illustrates how all those different uses might be distributed across the big chunk of land.
The buildings, designed by TCA Architects, aren’t shown in great detail in these renderings, but will be designed in a “modern architectural style” and sport accent colors and “articulated building facades,” according to the environmental documents.
The site would be cleared of everything now on it (including two radio towers) to make way for five buildings set on podiums, the tallest of which could rise to 320 feet. The 1,218 residences (one-, two-, and three-bedroom units) would be spread throughout the top floors of the buildings; half would be one-bedroom units. 
Two groups, Friends of the Neighborhood Integrity Initiative and the Crenshaw Subway Coalition, are suing the project’s developers, Carmel Partners, as well as the Los Angeles City Council, over what they’ve deemed an “illegal skyscraper.”
They’re asking the judge for an injunction to halt the tower’s construction, arguing it violates the city charter and the California Environmental Quality Act, which requires cities to assess and mitigate a development’s impact on the surrounding area, including on traffic and transportation.
In an interview with CBS LA, Crenshaw Subway Coalition founder Damon Goodmon called the project “wildly out of character” with the neighborhood, and expressed concern for the gridlock that would come from it. “As a community, we would like to see new improvements and investment but not this type of investment,” he said.
As a pure sign of gentrification, because most South LA residents wouldn’t even probably be able to afford these units, whats to come next?
SouthLA 