BOYLE HEIGHTS : Homes for Elderly Included in Complex

The Los Angeles Neighborhood Development Corp. plans to build a mixed-use, three- to 10-story development at Olympic Boulevard and Rio Vista Avenue with low-income senior citizen apartments, a day care center, commercial and office space and family apartments.

The proposal, Rio Vista Village/Olympic Plaza, calls for 166 units to house low-income senior citizens on the two-acre lot. A project consultant said it is too early in the city approval process to determine the cost of the proposed development, the range of rents and when construction might begin.

The property at 2601-2627 Olympic Blvd. is vacant, except for a restaurant that would be torn down to make way for the development.

Ray Garcia, office manager of the private, nonprofit Neighborhood Development Corp., said the company targets low-income areas for housing and business development. It has housing development projects in Pico-Union and Highland Park. The Rio Vista Village proposal is the largest project in the works for the company, which has headquarters at 1260 S. Soto St. in Boyle Heights.

The developers are awaiting word on several requests for conditional-use permits and zoning variances related to the property, Garcia said. Zoning administrator John Parker conducted a hearing July 22 to hear arguments on a request for a permit for a mixed-use development of integrated low-income senior apartment units, family housing and commercial office space. He was also asked to grant a variance reducing the number of parking spaces for the senior development from the required 266 spaces to 107.

“I’m sympathetic to the project and I will probably approve it,” Parker said Thursday. He has not made an official determination on the requests.

The city’s Office of Zoning Administration has not received letters supporting or opposing the project, but an attorney for an adjacent property owner spoke against the project at the zoning hearing. The attorney, Rob Glushon, was on vacation last week and could not be reached for comment.