The Los Angeles City Council has given SoLa Impact first crack at turning a vacant South LA lot into a modular housing hub, approving an exclusive negotiating agreement for a proposed manufacturing campus on a city-owned, nine-acre site. The deal lets the nonprofit spend the next stretch hashing out details with the city, pairing plans for local home production with on-site training and community space. It is a green light for talks, not a final go-ahead to start building.
The project, branded as the Honeycomb, would be anchored by a 175,000-square-foot modular housing facility that planners say could turn out 188 prefabricated units. The concept folds in offices, a vocational school, a tech center, and public open space powered by rooftop solar. About 80 percent of the planned homes would be reserved for low-income households, according to The Real Deal. The campus is proposed for the city parcel at 10900–10931 South Clovis Avenue and is pitched as a way to speed up affordable housing by putting fabrication, training, and neighborhood amenities in one place.
What The Honeycomb Would Deliver
Organizers describe the Honeycomb as a blended campus where manufacturing lines would operate alongside workforce development programs and neighborhood-focused programming. Sustainability features, including rooftop solar intended to power the buildings and public spaces, sit at the center of the pitch. Classrooms and small-business offices are planned inside the same footprint as the production floor. Supporters argue that tying job training directly to a working factory could create clearer paths to local, living-wage work.
SoLa Impact submitted the winning proposal after a city request for proposals in March 2025, and the group had already secured a $34.8 million construction loan tied to related work, according to The Real Deal. The exclusive negotiating agreement now gives SoLa Impact and city officials a structured window to work out terms. Environmental reviews, permits, and any community benefit commitments still have to be sorted out, and the project will need multiple final approvals before any grading or construction can start.
Local Jobs And Manufacturing Capacity
The plan leans on existing modular capacity in the neighborhood. Model Z, the manufacturer slated to build SoLa Impact’s units, opened a factory on East 111th Place in January 2024 and employs several hundred workers. Backers say the Honeycomb would build on that footprint, adding space for training programs, recruitment, and local hiring pipelines in fabrication and installation trades.
Nearby efforts financed in recent years, including a loan-funded building at 4301 Vermont Avenue that delivered 188 affordable apartments, are cited as part of a broader push to link factory production to faster housing delivery. Supporters see the Honeycomb as a chance to keep more of that work and those paychecks in South LA instead of exporting them to far-flung plants.
Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson submitted a letter urging colleagues to approve the exclusive negotiating agreement, signaling neighborhood political support for the concept at City Hall. Backers frame the project as a tool to cut construction timelines and route more jobs to South LA residents. Opponents and community groups, however, are expected to press for firm local-hire guarantees and detailed plans to handle traffic and environmental impacts as talks move forward.
Next Steps
The council vote moves the Honeycomb into a formal negotiation phase. City staff and SoLa Impact now have to hammer out performance benchmarks, community benefits, and a project timeline. If negotiations and approvals fall into place, the site could shift from vacant city land to an active manufacturing campus that doubles as a neighborhood asset. For now, officials have not released a firm construction schedule. Residents and local organizations will be watching closely to see what specific workforce commitments and neighborhood protections make it into the final deal.
