Developer Transforms Historic LA Mortuary Into 122 Senior Housing Units

A former mortuary building in Los Angeles was redeveloped into senior housing, reports Heather Senison for the New York Times, signaling the sustained growth of adaptive reuse.

The former Pierce Brothers Mortuary is located in central Los Angeles on what was once known as Mortuary Row. The building became a church in the mid-2000s, then much of it was destroyed in a fire in 2018. “Today, the building, its former hearse garage and four new structures on the site are home to roughly 100 people 55 and older. The 122 units, ranging from studios to two-bedrooms, cost 30 to 60 percent of the area median income.”

Despite the abundance of abandoned and underused commercial buildings in the United States, regulatory and cost barriers often prevent them from being adapted to housing. “Of the 44,000 senior housing properties operating in the United States, roughly 2,200 came from reuse projects, according to Assisted Living Magazine, which provides a marketplace for housing for older adults.”