On June 29, 2012 Jessica Garrison writes in the Los Angeles Times about plans for demolishing the crime-plagued project and building 1,800 homes, stores and a park, although questions about financing remain.
Los Angeles’ housing authority board chose developers Thursday for a $1-billion effort to redevelop the Jordan Downs housing project in Watts, a crucial step toward revitalizing one of the city’s poorest and most violence-plagued neighborhoods.
The plan calls for knocking down the 700-unit project whose name has become synonymous with urban blight and replacing it with a larger “urban village” of up to 1,800 new homes, stores and a park.
More than a third of the units would be reserved for families now living in the dilapidated two-story buildings, many of whom pay little rent and have lived in public housing for generations. But officials also envision selling several hundred units at market rate, and hope to make the new community inviting to retailers and more affluent residents.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-jordan-downs-20120629,0,1265856.story