A new, ‘first-class’ high-rise will house homeless people on L.A.’s skid row

Construction kicked off Tuesday on a 19-story homeless housing project designed to reshape a corner of skid row in the image of more well-to-do environs.

The 278-unit Weingart Tower will replace a parking lot at 555 S. Crocker St., around the corner from the Weingart Center, the project’s developer in collaboration with affordable housing developer Chelsea Investment Corp. The building is expected to open in December 2023.

Weingart Tower is the first stage of a project that will eventually comprise 382 units, dwarfing Weingart’s existing facility, in the 11-story former El Rey Hotel, which is already more than twice as tall as any other building around it.