AHF to Convert DTLA's Insurance Exchange Building to Housing
Historic office tower will have 251 units for homeless, low-income individuals.
AHF, the largest global AIDS organization, is expanding its Healthy Housing Foundation program in Los Angeles with the purchase of the Insurance Exchange Building, which will be the group’s first office-to-residential conversion project.
The historic building on W. 9th Street in DTLA will be the 14th building AHF has purchased and renovated into housing for homeless and extremely low-income individuals since it began developing residential housing in 2017, a total of $183M in acquisitions.
The 12-story insurance tower, which opened in 1924, was acquired by the organization for $21.3M. AHF is converting the building, which it is calling Angel Tower, into 251 apartment units.
Once the renovation is complete, AHF’s total number of affordable rental housing units across Greater Los Angeles will reach 1,666. The group noted the acquisition by running a full-page ad in the Sunday edition of the Los Angeles Times under the headline Angel Tower: A Rebirth.
“We know firsthand the fight for affordable housing is fought one door at a time. This building offers the potential for 251 brand-new doors in its incarnation as Angel Tower,” said Michael Weinstein, president of AHF, in a statement.
“The building’s ‘U’ shape lends itself well to adaptive reuse for housing as it makes it easier for our architects to ensure that all units created have ample windows for access to natural light and ventilation,” Weinstein said.
AHF has specialized in redeveloping older, historic residential properties throughout Greater Los Angeles, including several historic hotels like the King Edward, the Barclay and the Sinclair. The organization also has acquired a mix of efficient mid-century roadside motels and older hotels.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass declared a Homelessness State of Emergency in the City of Los Angeles on December. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in January extended the Homelessness State of Emergency throughout the county.
“We have found solutions that work, but they are not enough and need to be implemented at a faster pace and greater scale,” Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said, in announcing the state of emergency.
“We must also enhance our approaches to preventing individuals from becoming homeless. For example, 20,000 homeless individuals are being housed each year (90% have stayed housed), but even more individuals have become newly homeless,” Horvath said.
“A local emergency will allow the County to streamline and accelerate contracting, procurement, and hiring related to homelessness, and also accelerate the creation of licensed beds, interim housing, and permanent housing,” she added.