The Los Angeles City Council recently adopted a Citywide Adaptive Reuse Ordinance (Council File 21-1230-S9) that establishes zoning incentives and streamlined procedures for the conversion of existing commercial buildings and structures resulting in the creation of five or more residential units. The original Adaptive Reuse Ordinance, first adopted in 1999, only applied to buildings built before 1974 and located in or near Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA). The provisions of the original ARO were expanded in 2003 to include four small areas of the city, now defined as Adaptive Reuse Subareas.
The updated Citywide Adaptive Reuse Ordinance (ARO) expands eligibility beyond DTLA to all neighborhoods within Los Angeles city limits. Under the new ARO, all buildings that are at least 15 years old are now eligible, if they are located in Multifamily Residential, Commercial, Parking or Public Facilities Zones1. Parking structures or parking areas within an existing building that are at least five years old are also eligible, as is any existing building or structure of this age, subject to Zoning Administrator approval (Section 12.24 X.1 of the Code).
The intent of the updated ARO is to remove most Zoning Code barriers to the reuse of existing buildings, allowing many more applicants to apply directly to the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety (LADBS) to obtain their building permit.
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