Passo Pays $3.9 Million for West Los Angeles Homes, Plans 100-Unit Affordable Development
Los Angeles affordable housing developer Passo has acquired three single-family homes in West Los Angeles for $3.9 million, with plans to redevelop the site into approximately 100 affordable apartment units. The Saghian Group brokered the transaction.
The transaction closed in roughly 66 days and near the $3,950,000 asking price. The site is the assemblage at 1463–1467 Wellesley Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90025, a 15,400-square-foot parcel in the Sawtelle area of West Los Angeles. At $3.9 million across approximately 15,400 square feet, the deal implies a land price of roughly $250 per square foot, consistent with pricing for West Los Angeles infill land.
Property and Transaction Details
The site comprises three detached single-family residential structures, at least one of which dates to 1923. The property carries R2-1 / LAR2 zoning, a two-family designation common to Sawtelle and West Los Angeles infill parcels. Prior ownership was held by Wellesley Avenue Holdings, LLC, which had previously secured City Planning Commission approval for a three-story, 17-unit density bonus project on the site, with 24 parking spaces and three units restricted at very low-income levels.
Passo's development program represents a significant departure from that earlier entitlement. The firm is targeting approximately 100 fully affordable apartment units on the same parcel — a roughly sixfold increase in unit count — a shift that points to the use of Los Angeles's Executive Directive 1 streamlining framework and deeper affordability commitments to unlock greater density on small infill sites.
Passo's West Los Angeles Affordable Housing Strategy
The Wellesley Avenue acquisition fits a pattern Passo has been building across the Westside. The firm has disclosed more than 600 affordable units under construction or development, with multiple projects concentrated within a few miles of one another along key West Los Angeles corridors.
Passo's active West Los Angeles pipeline includes four ED-1 communities: a 76-unit project at 4129 Centinela, a 73-unit project at 4706 Centinela, a 53-unit project at 1747 Stoner, and a 53-unit project at 1734 Barrington — together representing more than 250 affordable and workforce units, with Aero Collective serving as architect and completions targeted around late 2026. The firm also acquired a site at 11970 Santa Monica Blvd., where it is planning a roughly 162-unit affordable community under ED-1, and separately announced the acquisition of three sites in Westwood and Sawtelle in mid-2025, also targeted for affordable housing development.
Concentrating projects within a defined submarket allows for potential operating efficiencies, including shared management, maintenance, and services across properties.
Market Context
West Los Angeles is a high-barrier, high-rent submarket where land costs and entitlement complexity have historically constrained affordable housing production. The use of ED-1 streamlining — which expedites approvals for 100% affordable projects — has enabled developers such as Passo to pursue higher unit counts on small, R2-zoned infill parcels that would otherwise support only modest density under standard zoning.
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