LENA Group

The Dunbar Village in South Los Angeles is the redevelopment of three adjacent affordable housing buildings sponsored by Thomas Safran & Associates, a premier developer of affordable multi-family properties in Southern California. The project was awarded through a Redevelopment Agency competition in 2011.

Beginning in 2009, LENA Group began working with Safran to lead quality control and design for the Company’s development team. Our role expanded on Dunbar Village to spearhead the design and reconstruction effort. We were committed to preserving the historic feel of the building, and in order to oversee that process fully, much of the detailing and design work was done in-house.

At the center of the Dunbar Village is the Dunbar Hotel. Built in the 1920s, it was considered the most prestigious hotel among the African American community of Los Angeles at the time, and was also the epicenter of the West Coast jazz world. It played host to almost every jazz legend imaginable through the 1930’s and 40’s. When we took over the project from the City of Los Angeles in early 2012, it had been foreclosed on; a dilapidated structure plagued by crime, and unfit for residential dwelling.

After an extensive $15 million overhaul, the Dunbar Village is the recipient of several awards including the prestigious Preservation Award from the Los Angeles Conservancy in 2014. A refreshed 83 units of senior and family housing is celebrated as a catalyst for upgrades along an entire stretch of Central Avenue and the surrounding neighborhood. It has also become the anchor for the annual Central Avenue Jazz Festival.

DUNBAR VILLAGE

DUNBAR
VILLAGE