Brief

Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson moved to designate the Lanzit Industrial Site as exempt surplus land eligible for development under the Southeast LA Community Plan. The motion directs use of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding to support high-quality employment opportunities on the property. Council adopted the motion 12-0-3 on April 26, 2024. The file has since moved through Municipal Facilities, Government Operations, and Economic Development committees, with both Government Operations and Economic Development approving on May 19, 2026.

Full summary

This file concerns the redevelopment of a long-vacant, city-owned industrial site in Watts known as the Lanzit Industrial Site. The City purchased the 9-acre property from Caltrans in 1994 for $3.2 million using Community Development Block Grant funds originally earmarked for a South Central Industrial Park, with an explicit intent to create jobs and address unemployment in South Los Angeles. The site sat unused for decades and currently has homeless encampments outside its perimeter. Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson introduced the original motion in April 2024 to designate the property as exempt surplus land under state law, clearing the way for economic development use rather than standard surplus disposal or affordable housing conversion. The central development proposal now before Council is called The Honeycomb, put forward by SoLa Impact following a competitive Request for Proposals process. SoLa Impact, a South LA-based developer with over 30 completed projects in Watts, Compton, and the Crenshaw Corridor, proposes to convert the site into a 175,000-square-foot modular housing manufacturing campus. The project would expand SoLa's existing Model/Z factory operation, which uses AI and volumetric modular manufacturing to produce affordable housing units at reduced cost and time. The Honeycomb would add a vocational school, a technology and manufacturing center for youth, corporate offices, and open space. The factory is designed to produce up to four modular housing units per day, with units deployable across Southern California to address the regional housing shortage. The existing Model/Z facility, which launched production in January 2024 after a rapid renovation funded by $19 million in New Market Tax Credits, already employs over 300 full-time workers at or above Airport Living Wage, with approximately 75 percent drawn from surrounding low-income neighborhoods. The committees recommend authorizing the Economic and Workforce Development Department to negotiate and execute an Exclusive Negotiating Agreement with SoLa Impact for up to 24 months, covering five adjacent parcels along South Clovis Avenue. They also recommend formally declaring the properties exempt surplus land under California Government Code, exempting them from both standard surplus land disposal requirements and the rules mandating use of surplus land for affordable housing, based on the site's designated purpose for economic development. Legislatively, the original motion passed the Trade, Travel, and Tourism Committee and was adopted by the full Council 12-0-3 on April 26, 2024. In April 2026, the Municipal Facilities Committee submitted a report formalizing the development framework, which was referred first to Government Operations and then, after a corrected referral, to the Economic Development and Jobs Committee as well. Both committees approved the recommendations unanimously on May 19, 2026. The joint committee report is now pending final action by the full Council.

Activity (14)

• 2026-05-19 Economic Development and Jobs Committee approved item(s) .
• 2026-05-19 Government Operations Committee transmitted Council File to Economic Development and Jobs Committee.
• 2026-05-19 Government Operations Committee approved item(s) .
• 2026-05-15 Economic Development and Jobs Committee scheduled item for committee meeting on May 19, 2026.
• 2026-05-14 Government Operations Committee scheduled item for committee meeting on May 19, 2026.
• 2026-05-13 Corrected Referral per Council President to include Economic Development and Jobs Committee.
• 2026-04-21 Municipal Facilities Committee document(s) referred to Government Operations Committee.
• 2026-04-20 Document submitted by Municipal Facilities Committee, dated April 20, 2026.
• 2024-04-30 Council action final.
• 2024-04-26 Council adopted item, subject to reconsideration, pursuant to Council Rule 51.
• 2024-04-23 City Clerk scheduled item for Council on April 26, 2024.
• 2024-04-16 Trade, Travel, and Tourism Committee approved item(s) .
• 2024-04-12 Trade, Travel, and Tourism Committee scheduled item for committee meeting on April 16, 2024.
• 2024-04-05 Motion referred to Trade, Travel, and Tourism Committee.

Documents (8)

• 2026-05-20 Joint Report from Government Operations and Econmic Development and Jobs Committees · report
• 2026-05-19 Communcaition from CD8 · other
• 2026-05-19 Speaker Card(s) · speaker_card
• 2026-05-19 Transmittal Letter · transmittal
• 2026-04-20 Report from Municipal Facilities Committee · report
• 2024-04-30 Council Action · council_action
• 2024-04-16 Report from Trade, Travel and Tourism Committee · report
• 2024-04-05 Motion · motion