LA LISC’s mission is to help non-profit, community development corporations transform distressed communities and neighborhoods into healthy and sustainable communities of choice and opportunities.
During LISC’s 20 year tenure in Los Angeles, it has raised and invested more than $400 million and assisted over 100 CDCs with pre-development and acquisition support for more than 7,300 new homes serving approximately 32,000 people and constructed close to 1.1 million square feet of commercial, industrial, retail and community space. LISC’s investment has leveraged $1 billion in financing from other private and public entities.
Green Development Work Areas:
Featured Green Development Projects
Sierra Bonita Apartments
Work Area(s): Green Building - Affordable Housing; Green Infrastructure
The Sierra Bonita Apartments is the first of LISC Los Angeles’ affordable housing projects to be built under the City of West Hollywood's Green Building Ordinance. They are a mixed-use project that contains 42 affordable one-bedroom units with commercial space on the first floor. The development serves low-income disabled residents of all types, including mentally and physically disabled persons with HIV/AIDS and persons with long-term chronic health conditions. Each unit is approximately 620 square feet. The ground floor will accommodate community-serving nonprofit organizations, and an outdoor courtyard atrium features a garden for residents at the podium level. Each apartment has its own private outdoor space with designated storage room.
The Sierra Bonita Apartments used state-of-the-art green-building features, including:
- Cross ventilation for all units, taking advantage of cool air circulating through the interior courtyard
- High-efficiency appliances and air conditioning
- An artistic grid of photovoltaic and solar panels on the roof and exterior walls that supplement conventional electrical and hot water systems
The landscape design for Sierra Bonita was developed to beautify and enhance the outdoor experiences of residents and the West Hollywood community at large. Highly drought-tolerant and low-maintenance plant materials have been selected, resistant to the urban conditions of exhausts, dust and foot traffic. Submerged drip irrigation system, and existing street trees are preserved and incorporated into the building's planting design. The second and upper level plantings include bamboo clusters for shaded internal courtyard area with groundcovers that can grow efficiently with a submerged irrigation system.
Animo Pat Brown Charter High School, Green Dot Public Schools, 2010
Work Area(s): Green Building - Schools
Animo Pat Brown Charter High School is a public charter school located in South Los Angeles. It is chartered by the Los Angeles Unified School District and operated by Green Dot Public Schools, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
The financing for this acquisition was done using the ExEd fund which includes a $4 million contribution from LISC. This fund helped Green Dot purchase a newly renovated 40,000-square-foot LEED-certified public school facility for Animo Pat Brown Charter High School (Pat Brown). The school presently enrolls over 400 students in grades 9-11.
The project attained its LEED certification through several features in each of the LEED for Schools Criterion:
Sustainable Sites:
- Measures to reduce automobile use installation of bicycle racks, preferential parking for low-emitting or fuel-efficient vehicles and carpools
- Cool roof to reduce the heat island effect
Water Efficiency:
- Drought-resistant landscaping results in 71.8% reduction in water consumption
- Waterless urinals & lavatories with aerators reduce usage for a savings of 32.2%
Energy & Atmosphere
- Installation efficient HVAC, lighting, and water systems
- No CFC-based refrigerants used in any equipment
Materials & Resources
- Recycling collection and storage on site is part of operations and maintenance
- Adaptive reuse of an existing building
- 86% of construction waste from demolition recycled and diverted from landfill
- Use of recycled materials in construction
- Use of certified wood encourages environmentally responsible forest management
Indoor Environmental Quality:
- Ventilation systems designed to ensure that adequate fresh air is available to occupants
- No smoking allowed on any part of the campus both during and after construction
- Acoustics designed so that each classroom is not bothered by noise from other classrooms or noise in common areas. Duct silencers, for example, mitigate noise from HVAC system.
- Use of low- or no-VOC materials
- Each space can control its own lighting and temperature
- Maximized interior daylighting through use of skylights and windows
Innovation in Design:
- Green housekeeping means only low impact cleaning products and equipment are used
Crenshaw Corridor - Marlton Square
Work Area(s): Green Jobs
The Los Angeles LISC Crenshaw Corridor Quality of Life Plan (QOLP) calls for a bold re-visioning of the failed elements of the Amended Crenshaw Redevelopment Project (1994) that includes a reallocation of local investment dollars to address quality-of-life and sustainability issues that will be inherited by the next generation.
The Crenshaw Corridor Sustainable Community planning process focuses on the development of Marlton Square as a generator for economic development along the corridor. Stakeholders and residents along the Crenshaw Corridor have the opportunity to turn the 22 acres of land that remain blighted into an engine of green job development that radiates throughout the target community.
Projected results by 2015 include:
- Green job skills training for 1,000 adults and youth
- 400 more spaces in expanded K-16 education and training
- More than 100 new jobs for instructors, green home center workers, environmental consultants, builders, and apprentices
- Locations for new green businesses
- Expanded engagement of Business Improvement Districts
- Promotion of new development at local transit stops and partnerships with the MTA to move new customers to the Corridor
- Crime reduction
- Changes in perceptions of community safety
- Retention of green space for healthy environments and lifestyle purposes
For more information contact:
