Construction Begins On Affordable Hollywood Housing For Artists

HOLLYWOOD, CA — The Actors Fund Thursday broke ground on the forthcoming Hollywood Arts Collective, which seeks to be a communal living and working space for aspiring artists. The $120 million facility will include 151 affordable housing units for artists, along with art galleries, rehearsal studios, and non-profit office space.

The development will also include an 86-seat Glorya Kaufman Theater, named after the philanthropist who has also funded arts programs at USC, UCLA and the Julliard School. The Actors Fund expects the project to be open and in operation by 2024.

"Los Angeles is a city where creativity and solutions meet—and where innovative strategies inform answers to everything from housing to economic development to reinforcing Hollywood's role as a center for jobs and opportunity," Mayor Eric Garcetti said during a virtual groundbreaking ceremony. "The Hollywood Arts Collective is a tribute to the Angeleno spirit, combining an affordable place to live with a dynamic place to create, transforming a home for artists into a thriving community for the arts, and breathing new energy into the heart of our city."

The development will be separated into an arts building and a residential building, both of which will reside on Hollywood Boulevard between Wilcox Avenue and Schrader Boulevard. Funding for the project has come from the city, the state of California, public support and the federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit program.

“Access to affordable housing is critical to a thriving creative community in Hollywood and the city of Los Angeles,” said Actors Fund Western Region Executive Director Keith McNutt. “With gentrification and rising rents in neighborhoods traditionally accessible to workers in the entertainment and arts community, The Hollywood Arts Collective is an urgent and timely need. This project will allow professionals in our industry to live, work and perform in the center of creativity in Los Angeles. Their presence, their work, will be an engine of the continued arts-based revitalization of Hollywood.”