Costco to Open Los Angeles Warehouse Under 800‑Unit Affordable Housing Tower in Baldwin Village
Costco and Thrive Living are building a first‑of‑its‑kind Costco warehouse beneath an 800‑unit apartment tower at 5035 Coliseum Street in Baldwin Village, Los Angeles; construction began September 2024 and completion is slated for 2027.
Key takeaways
- Mixed‑use model: A full ~185,000 sq. ft. Costco will occupy the ground floor under roughly 800 apartments.
- Affordable set‑aside: 184 units (~23%) will be income‑restricted; the rest are workforce or naturally occurring affordable units.
- Streamlined approval: The project is the first in California approved under AB 2011, enabling ministerial approvals on qualifying commercial corridors.
- Financing: Privately financed with Costco as an anchor tenant and partnership with the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles.
Key information
Location: 5035 Coliseum Street, Baldwin Village / Baldwin Hills, South Los Angeles. (Sources: Fox Business, Housing Finance, Entrepreneur)
Project name: 5035 Coliseum. (Sources: Housing Finance, Multifamily Dive)
Groundbreaking: September 2024; targeted opening: 2027. (Sources: Housing Finance, Fox Business, Multifamily Dive)
Retail: Full Costco warehouse of roughly 185,000 sq. ft. on the ground floor; larger than the U.S. average Costco. (Source: Entrepreneur)
Housing: About 800 apartments above the warehouse; 184 units (~23%) set aside as income‑restricted affordable housing; remainder intended as workforce or “naturally occurring” affordable units. (Sources: Fox Business, Housing Finance, Multifamily Dive)
Financing and approvals: Privately financed project, approved under California’s AB 2011 (Affordable Housing and High Road Jobs Act); Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles is a partner. (Sources: Housing Finance, Multifamily Dive)
Developer: Thrive Living, led by Ben Shaoul, advancing the “Thrive Living urban model” to reuse commercial sites for housing. (Sources: Housing Finance, Entrepreneur)
What the project will look like
The building will stack retail under residential space. Costco will occupy the ground floor with about 185,000 square feet of selling space — larger than many suburban warehouses. Two levels of underground parking will serve both residents and Costco shoppers.
Above the warehouse, Thrive Living plans roughly 800 apartments with shared amenities, including a rooftop pool and a fitness center meant for residents. The design aims to create a housing‑jobs‑retail mix on a commercial corridor that had been underused. (Sources: Entrepreneur, Housing Finance, Fox Business)
How it was approved and how it’s paid for
AB 2011 — the Affordable Housing and High Road Jobs Act — allowed qualifying affordable multifamily housing on certain commercial corridors to use a streamlined, ministerial approval process. That faster approval helped make the project financially viable without relying on traditional low‑income housing tax credits or major public capital subsidies.
Instead, Thrive and its partners are using private financing with Costco serving as an anchor tenant that will pay rent, strengthening the project’s income stream. The Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles is involved as a partner, but the capital stack is primarily private. (Sources: Housing Finance, Multifamily Dive, Entrepreneur)
Why Costco is trying this strategy
Costco’s CEO, Ron Vachris, described the Baldwin Village project as a creative expansion approach that lets the company enter dense urban markets where a traditional 25‑acre suburban site is impossible to secure.
“Projects like this help the company get closer to our members and relieve some pressure from some of our highest volume locations,” Vachris said on Costco’s Q1 FY2026 earnings call, noting the model helps access markets the company previously would have questioned. (Source: Fox Business)
Thrive Living founder Ben Shaoul says having Costco as an anchor tenant makes the business case for building large amounts of housing much stronger, unlocking sites along commercial corridors and directing private capital toward housing production when paired with policy tools like AB 2011. (Sources: Housing Finance, Entrepreneur)
Scale, jobs and neighborhood effects
Developers and city officials estimate the project will cost roughly $425 million and create up to about 400 permanent Costco jobs plus thousands of construction jobs during the build. Thrive and partners say Costco historically hires from surrounding neighborhoods, which could bring retail employment to South LA residents.
Baldwin Hills and parts of South Los Angeles face higher poverty rates than the national average, so local leaders see the project as a way to add housing choices and jobs in an area that needs both. (Sources: Fox Business, Housing Finance, Entrepreneur)
How this fits a national trend
Urban planners and housing advocates are watching 5035 Coliseum as a high‑profile example of “residential‑over‑retail” anchored by a big‑box retailer. Analysts say the model could be copied in other cities where land is scarce and housing funding is limited.
Multifamily Dive notes that combining a big‑box anchor with dense housing could create a replicable financing and public‑benefit model, especially where zoning and state policy enable faster approvals; AB 2011’s role in this project highlights how state laws can shape private investment in housing. (Source: Multifamily Dive)
Community reaction and open questions
Local reaction has been mixed. Supporters praise the addition of hundreds of apartments and the potential for thousands of jobs. Critics and some housing advocates caution that only about 23% of units are formally income‑restricted and that many units will rent at workforce or “naturally occurring” affordable rates rather than deeply subsidized levels tied to lower AMI thresholds.
Exact unit allocations for 30%, 50%, and 80% AMI tiers are still being finalized. Observers are also watching parking and traffic plans, how the project will interface with nearby transit and schools, and whether similar deals will spread across Los Angeles and other California cities. (Sources: Housing Finance, Entrepreneur, Fox Business)
Implications for the Inland Empire
Economic impact: Inland Empire residents shop and work across Southern California. A Costco in Baldwin Village could draw some shoppers from Riverside and San Bernardino counties but is more likely to alter shopping patterns for those who commute into Los Angeles. The project may also shift regional retail competition; large Costco anchors can draw spending away from other retail centers in the Inland Empire.
Political consequences: AB 2011 enabled the Baldwin Village project. Inland Empire cities that face housing shortfalls may look to similar state policies and private‑sector partnerships to accelerate housing near commercial corridors. Local elected leaders in Riverside and San Bernardino counties will likely weigh whether to pursue comparable zoning or incentives.
Social effects & practical applications: The Thrive Living urban model — linking a major retail tenant to large amounts of workforce housing — could appeal to Inland Empire planners as a way to create housing without long waits for public subsidy. However, the balance between truly affordable units and market‑rate workforce housing will matter for low‑income Inland Empire residents who need deeper subsidy. Cities considering this model should examine traffic mitigation, transit access, school capacity and workforce training plans so local residents benefit from jobs created by anchors like Costco. (Sources: Fox Business, Housing Finance, Multifamily Dive)
Reporting and sources
Reporting for this story used public statements and coverage from: Fox Business, Housing Finance, Entrepreneur, and Multifamily Dive.
