South L.A. is staring down a big change on Figueroa Street, where a seven-story, 157-unit affordable apartment building is slated to rise at 7408 S. Figueroa Street in Vermont Knolls, just west of the 110 Freeway. Drona Investments is listed as the developer, and the plan would reserve nearly all of the units for very low, low and moderate income renters, with a single market-rate manager’s unit. The mix would include studios, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments and, in a detail that is sure to get people talking, no on-site parking at all.
City planning filings describe the proposal as an administrative case for a seven-story, 157-unit building, according to City Planning. The Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety also flagged 7408 S. Figueroa in its quarterly construction newsletter, assigning a $4.1 million valuation to the proposed work and listing it among recent affordable housing filings.
Renderings and a project summary show a contemporary podium-style building and confirm both the unit mix and the no-parking approach, as reported by Urbanize LA. Urbanize notes that the parcel backs up to a bungalow-court complex that is slated to be converted into small-lot homes and that the lot had previously been eyed for a mostly market-rate, 45-unit mixed-use project. Drona Investments lists multiple affordable developments in Los Angeles on its projects page, including another Figueroa proposal north of this site.
Approvals and incentives the developer is using
City records indicate the development team is pursuing ED-1 streamlining along with state density bonus tools, including AB 1763 and AB 2345, to secure extra height and reduced parking requirements, according to City Planning. Those incentives were created to speed up approvals for affordable housing under Mayor Karen Bass’s ED-1 program, which the Los Angeles Housing Department explains in its streamlining guidance. The same combination of ED-1 and state measures has shown up on several recent South L.A. proposals, helping push up unit counts on relatively small lots.
Money and timeline
A $15.3 million construction loan tied to the property surfaced in May 2025, with Traded describing it as a 30-month, ground-up loan priced at roughly SOFR plus 3.15 percent. That kind of financing suggests lenders see the deal as viable, but the project still needs final ministerial clearances, plan checks and building permits before any ground is broken. The application was filed in 2023 and is expected to move through the ED-1 pipeline as long as plan checks and ministerial reviews wrap up without major changes.
What neighbors should expect
The lack of on-site parking is likely to be the earliest and loudest flashpoint for neighbors, given how heavy curbside demand already runs in the area. ED-1 rules and state density bonus law allow significant parking reductions when projects deliver deed-restricted affordable units, a tradeoff the city frames as prioritizing housing production near transit over car storage, according to the Los Angeles Housing Department. Residents should keep an eye out for formal notices and any ministerial hearing dates as the case moves through permitting.
The Figueroa project is one more piece of a broader push to turn underused South L.A. lots into affordable apartments, and it will be closely watched by neighbors, advocates and city officials as ministerial reviews unfold. This story will be updated when the city posts ministerial clearances, plan check milestones or a formal construction timeline.
