Transit-oriented development: Puerta del Sol

The next stop on my tour of transit-oriented development in the Southland was a massive complex of condos and apartments that opened in the last couple of years next to the Gold Line's Avenue 26 station in Lincoln Heights. My goal is to see what exactly is getting built in the name of TODs -- a lot of luxury units or perhaps something that would lure Joe Blow back from the distant 'burbs.

The complex is known as Puerta del Sol, although that's just the condo part of the project. There are also three apartment complexes: Tesoro del Valle, Flores del Valle and Camino del Oro (Road of the Gold!), which is for seniors. All together, there are several hundred rental units.

Right off the bat, I got a big surprise: In Tesoro del Valle -- i.e. Treasure of the Valley -- I found apartment buildings that looked out on the back of a billboard owned by Regency Outdoors. More on that below.

The developers were AMCAL and Phoenix Realty Group, which built the project at the site of an old furniture factory. The city of Los Angeles was involved, with its Housing Department offering down- payment assistance to some condo residents. It is also worth noting that the city's pension board, known as LACERS, in 2006 invested $20 million in Genesis Workforce Housing, a fund controlled by Phoenix.

A few more details:

Developer claim from website: "At Puerta del Sol, we are bringing family lifestyles home to one of the world’s most exciting cities, and we’re doing it with high-quality urban housing at prices that compete with suburban options and all but eliminate the commute. Give yourself and your family more time and energy for living. For being together. For enjoying community life."

Price: The condos are pretty much sold out, but there are two live-work units available for $350,000 and $375,000, respectively. They are both two-level and include a small work space on one floor and a studio apartment on another. The apartments are about 1,300 square feet. The developer, AMCAL, was able to secure down-payment assistance from the city of Los Angeles for some tenants, said Dayna Ranger, a sales and marketing manager with AMCAL. The units were targeted to be sold to residents at just below and above the area median income, which is about $55,000 a year for a family of four.

As for the apartments, Ranger said they are set aside for low-income residents. Units start at $453 for a two-bedroom, one-bath and go up to $1,921 for a four-bedroom and two-bath unit.

Setting: I know what you're thinking -- those prices sound great! The west side of the building is built just above the Golden State Freeway. The east side of the building looks out on a junkyard across the street on Avenue 26 (shown below), a warehouse, a cellphone tower and some other type of communications tower.

Also, there is space for several retail outlets in the project; so far there are only two tenants: a field office for Assemblyman Kevin de Leon and a firm specializing in helping people deal with foreclosures.

But that's not the worst of it. Some of the units in the Tesoro del Valle -- at the corner of Humboldt Street and the 5 Freeway -- actually have windows that are just a few feet from the REAR SIDE OF A BILLBOARD. I kid you not.

"It doesn’t bring us a penny; we tried to relocate it, and it wasn’t possible," Ranger said. "So it has stayed. I know the owner of the billboard didn’t want to move it."

Obviously it's valuable real estate. The city isn't issuing new billboard permits -- with, of course, many exceptions -- and this billboard looks out on the 5 Freeway. On the typical day, about 229,000 vehicles pass the spot on the freeway, according to Caltrans data.

I have a call into Regency's lawyers and lobbyists to find out exactly what the deal is with the sign.

And the rest of the building?: Seems perfectly comfortable enough, but bare bones. One courtyard lacked any grass. There were no benches anywhere in the common areas. Ranger said that was to allow access by the Fire Department.

Is it walkable?: It's about a three-tenths of a mile walk to the Five Points area, which includes a Rite-Aid, Vons, a veterinarian, several beauty salons and the Come Phat Market, which sounds like my kind of place. A walk in the other direction to Figueroa quickly brings residents to a small city park next to to the 110 Freeway onramp, a McDonald's, an IHOP, a Home Depot and a group of independent markets and stores. A city animal shelter is nearby. Most important, all the units are within a five-minute walk of the Gold Line station.

Previously in this series of posts: The Stuart apartments in Pasadena.

-- Steve Hymon

Photos: Steve Hymon / Los Angeles Times