Joint Development Guidelines for Crenshaw/LAX Light Rail Corridor
Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (METRO) (LACMTA)
HR&A collaborated with LA Metro to develop program and design guidelines for the Transit-Oriented Communities Demonstration Program along the Crenshaw/LAX light rail corridor. Through market analysis, financial feasibility testing, and community engagement, we created comprehensive development guidelines that incorporated community development, economic development, and multi-modal mobility objectives, leading to successful joint development opportunities including a proposal featuring affordable housing, community-serving space, and locally-owned retail.
Following voter approval of Measure R in 2008, which authorized doubling the commuter rail system by 2035, Metro launched the Transit-Oriented Communities Program to maximize community benefits from major transit investments through strategic joint development on Metro-owned land around stations. HR&A’s approach combined rigorous market analysis of demand for key land uses at each station with pro forma financial modeling to test development feasibility, placing particular emphasis on opportunities created by new rail transit access. We facilitated community stakeholder meetings at each station area to ensure local input shaped development visions and priorities.
The comprehensive guidelines we developed enabled Metro to issue final development frameworks for the Fairview Heights and Expo/Crenshaw station areas in June 2016, establishing clear parameters for transit-oriented development that balanced market viability with community goals. Building on our recommendations, Metro successfully issued a Request for Proposals for joint development at the Expo/Crenshaw Station and selected Watt Companies, a nationally recognized development firm, for exclusive negotiations. The selected proposal directly reflected HR&A’s program recommendations, featuring affordable housing for very low-income residents, nearly 50,000 square feet of community-serving space, and retail opportunities specifically targeting locally-owned businesses.
Similar Projects
HR&A’s work is as multifaceted as the communities
we serve. Explore HR&A’s impact across the globe.
HR&A worked with the City of Dallas to develop and implement a groundbreaking Economic Development Policy that prioritizes equitable investment in Southern Dallas and communities of color historically excluded from opportunity. Through comprehensive strategic support, our work is helping turn the City’s bold vision into measurable outcomes—restructuring incentives, aligning City departments, and building a foundation for inclusive, long-term economic growth.
Since 2022, HR&A has supported New York State's Empire State Development to design and implement a comprehensive workforce strategy for the newly established Office of Strategic Workforce Development. The office’s core focus is to establish strategic priorities for job training aligned with industry needs and to fund new programs – through a $150 million grant program – that connect un- and underemployed New Yorkers especially from historically marginalized communities to in-demand, high-quality jobs in priority industries. Ultimately, this internal and external-facing effort seeks to strengthen New York’s economic competitiveness and expand economic opportunity and mobility for all New Yorkers.
