Here’s the huge new neighborhood rising around the NFL stadium in Inglewood

By Elijah Chiland and Bianca Barragan  Curbed LA Original post: Click here

With the under-construction Rams and Chargers stadium in Inglewood about half-way finished, there is, understandably, a lot of attention on the project. 

But the future home of the Rams and Chargers—and the 2022 Super Bowl—isn’t the only big project planned for the massive parcel of land left behind after the demolition of the Hollywood Park Racetrack. 

Next to the $4.9 billion stadium, a massive new neighborhood and shopping complex with thousands of homes, plus new stores, restaurants, and a hotel, has been in the works for more than a decade. 

The site doesn’t look like much now; it’s mainly used as a staging area for the incredible amount of equipment needed to build the stadium. But as the stadium rumbles toward completion, work on the vast residential community is scheduled to ramp up.

The entire 238-acre property was acquired by developers Wilson Meany and Stockridge in 2005, but construction didn’t break ground until 2014, due to the downturn in the housing market.

When fully finished (representatives have not said when that will be), the new Hollywood Park will be made up of 2,500 units of housing, 620,000 square feet of retail space, a “social hub” with a “culinary marketplace” and “giant outdoor movie screen,” a 300-room luxury hotel, and a revamped Hollywood Park Casino.

Updated renderings, give a closer look, from the retail component to the landscaping. They show a large, open-air shopping district; glassy office buildings; and a hotel with a rooftop terrace.

The stadium-adjacent housing will consist primarily of apartments and townhouses, interspersed with roughly two dozen acres of parks and open space, designed by Studio-MLA. An artificial lake, complete with waterfalls, will be a centerpiece to the community space. 

The first phase of the project—two apartment buildings “inspired by high-design boutique hotels”—is scheduled to open in late 2020 or early 2021. In total, phase one will offer 314 apartments ranging from studios to three-bedroom units, according to the project website. 

Pricing for the new apartments hasn’t been released, but the cost of renting in Inglewood is soaring, thanks in part to Hollywood Park’s redevelopment. Prices have increased 12.2 percent since 2016, when the NFL agreed to let the Rams and Chargers relocate to Inglewood, according to according to CoStar. 

A representative for Hart Howerton, an architectural firm that’s part of the large team developing the project, says the firm has been trying to ensure that the housing and retail components of the complex will integrate smoothly with the surrounding neighborhood.

At the same time, the developers want the project to stand out. Winding streets and paths will set the area apart when viewed from above, or what Hart Howerton describes as the “Fifth Elevation.” The massive site is easily spotted through the windows of the 1,500 aircrafts that fly overhead and land nearby at LAX daily. 

Those paths probably won’t be quite as eye-grabbing as the giant billboard that’s set to adorn the roof of the new stadium, but the aerial view is impressive.