Costco--but with 800 apartments

[tomh009]

A new Costco proposal in LA area is not only mixed use but includes a huge amount of residential units. 800 units in total, including 184 for low-income tenants.  Couldn't one of our own retail chains take a similar approach as well?

A rendering of the street view.



This is a BIG footprint.



https://www.sfgate.com/la/article/costco...541521.php

[bravado]

What happens if the Costco business model goes out of style and there’s a gigantic warehouse void at the bottom? Either way, quite creative.

Of course the bike lane in the render is a death trap…

[tomh009]

I suspect just about any bike lane in LA will be a death trap!

[ijmorlan]

What happens if the Costco business model goes out of style and there’s a gigantic warehouse void at the bottom? Either way, quite creative.

Of course the bike lane in the render is a death trap…

A huge flat enclosed climate-controlled space in a city will always have many possible uses.

Our one-story commercial plazas are ridiculous. Something like this makes way more sense. Essentially every plaza should have apartments and/or office above.

[panamaniac]

What happens if the Costco business model goes out of style and there’s a gigantic warehouse void at the bottom? Either way, quite creative.

Of course the bike lane in the render is a death trap…

A huge flat enclosed climate-controlled space in a city will always have many possible uses.

Our one-story commercial plazas are ridiculous. Something like this makes way more sense. Essentially every plaza should have apartments and/or office above.

I've always thought that any plaza that incorporates a supermarket and a drug store would make an obvious place to build independent-living seniors apartments.

[nms]

This an example of the pre-mid 20th Century version of the downtown retail store with housing above, but on steroids. Would this kind of development be possible in Ontario given our current zoning practices?

[tomh009]

Isn't it just a mixed-use building from a zoning point of view?

[ac3r]

My exact thoughts. This isn't exactly a new idea. We used to always build buildings where the ground floor is commercial and anything above is residential or offices. I suppose this only differs in that it's a building typically in a big box suburban store located in a suburban area; a Costco first, residential second.

Would be nice to see more projects like this, though. But it's very hard to convince retail stores to take on a project like this.

[dtkmelissa]

Vancouver has a Costco downtown with housing above it and a Skytrain station nearby. https://x.com/BrentToderian/status/1428215964357648386

[tomh009]

My exact thoughts. This isn't exactly a new idea. We used to always build buildings where the ground floor is commercial and anything above is residential or offices. I suppose this only differs in that it's a building typically in a big box suburban store located in a suburban area; a Costco first, residential second.

Would be nice to see more projects like this, though. But it's very hard to convince retail stores to take on a project like this.

And I think that is really the unique point: Costco is actually taking the lead in developing this, including affordable housing.

[Vojnik_Vahaj]

Yet another reason to like Costco(I don't like the car-centric aspect though). I hope they do this for ever Costco. I don't think it should be too difficult to retrofit existing locations to be like this. If a shithole country like my homeland can do it, so can a western country.The map is not up to date, but when I was on vacation there with my buddies a year ago, they had closed off a section of the inside to put some support pillars so they can build (probably another hotel) on top of the existing structure.

[KevinL]

It would be nice to do this to every Costco, but in most locations the local planning and zoning would forbid it. What we need is a broad renewal of those regulations.

[Vojnik_Vahaj]

It would be nice to do this to every Costco, but in most locations the local planning and zoning would forbid it. What we need is a broad renewal of those regulations.

Ofcourse, but where do we not need a broad renewal of regulations?

[bravado]

I think it would be quite hard to retrofit existing locations… modern warehouses are truly the simplest steel boxes you can build.

[Vojnik_Vahaj]

Fair enough, back in ex-yugoslavia all buidlings are built pretty sturdy. When my grandparents come to visit and see houses being built out of wood frames they ask "How do your houses not collapse???"