CRE Plays Ghostbusters on “Haunted” Project

LOS ANGELES—The historic Linda Vista Hospital has been reimagined as senior affordable housing complex Hollenbeck Terrace Apartments. The long-vacant property has been touted as haunted by the community, and has appeared on paranormal television shows like Ghost Adventurers. Adjacent to Hollenbeck Park, the new Hollenbeck Terrace Apartments now provides 120 affordable senior apartments to the community. 

“The architectural vision was to scrub the property from its reputation as a haunted eye soar,” John Arnold, a principal at architecture firm KFA, tells GlobeSt.com. “The neighborhood saw it as an asset, but no one was quite sure what they wanted it to be. I think getting over the fact that it wasn't haunted and that it could be a good asset for the community became our primary goal.” KFA led the architectural design of the project, which was developed by AMCAL Multi-Housing.

Located in Boyle Heights, the property came with other architectural challenges aside from the haunted reputation, namely that hospitals don't easily give way to multifamily communities. “Hospitals have very large hallways and are not designed to let in a lot of light; they are not set up to function as housing,” says Arnold. “We set out to design a place that was comfortable, so unit design was very important and interior design was very important. We took the hospital edges off of it, but still maintained the historic features, that balance of making it residential and comfortable for seniors especially.” They left in the historical qualities of the common areas, like the lobby and dining room as well as the boiler room, which is set to transform into a community arts venue. Former patient rooms, laboratories, the nurses' dormitory were all converted into living residences.

One place where Arnold did not note a challenge was in the budget. Although affordable housing is known to have difficult funding challenges, he said that funds were not a conversation he had with the developer. “We knew that it was affordable from the get go, so we aren't putting in all of the bells and whistles,” he says. “We knew that we had to be efficient.”