10/19/2026
In South Los Angeles, a new kind of building is going up, with a full Costco warehouse store on the ground level and 800 apartments stacked on top of it. It's Costco's first store designed this way, built in partnership with the developer Thrive Living.
Of the 800 units, 184 are reserved for low-income households, which matters in a city where rents keep climbing and open land for new housing is scarce. Putting homes above a big-box store makes use of space that would otherwise be nothing but a roof.
The project uses AB 2011, a California law designed to speed up approvals for housing built on land zoned for commerce. Reports say it is privately funded without government subsidies, and the rent paid by the store helps support the homes above it.
For the people who eventually move in, the groceries will be downstairs, in a city that ranks among the most expensive housing markets in the United States.
