L.A. County approves master plan to redevelop landmark General Hospital campus

Overview

Updated 1 hour ago

The 19-story Art Deco General Hospital has sat mostly empty since the 1994 Northridge earthquake brought stricter hospital codes. On October 22, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors approved a master plan to turn the 30-acre campus into a "Healthy Village" with 3,200 homes, a new 450-bed hospital, and shops.

The redevelopment is a public-private bet. Centennial Partners, the master developer, would fund a phased buildout spanning up to 25 years. The landmark that served millions of Angelenos would anchor a new mixed-use neighborhood on the Eastside.

Why it matters

If built out, this turns a landmark vacant since 1994 into 3,200 homes and a new safety-net hospital on L.A.'s Eastside.

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Key Indicators

3,200

Planned homes

Residential units proposed across the campus, including affordable and mixed-income housing.

450

New hospital beds

A 450-bed, 400,000-square-foot hospital is part of the proposed medical hub.

25 years

Buildout window

Full buildout could take up to 25 years, delivered in multiple phases.

30.8 acres

Campus size

The master plan covers 30.8 acres around the landmark building.

Voices

Curated perspectives — historical figures and your fellow readers.

Ever wondered what historical figures would say about today's headlines?

People Involved

Hilda L. Solis

Los Angeles County Board Chair and First District Supervisor

Championed the master plan since 2018

Kelly LoBianco

Director, Los Angeles County Department of Economic Opportunity

Lead county official overseeing the redevelopment

Giovanna Araujo

Project Director, Centennial Partners (Primestor Development)

Directing the master plan for the private development team

Organizations Involved

Los Angeles County Department of Economic Opportunity

County agency

Lead county agency for the redevelopment

DEO manages the public-private partnership with Centennial Partners and ran the community engagement process.

Centennial Partners

Master development team (joint venture)

Master developer selected in 2023

A joint venture of Primestor Development and Bayspring Real Estate Partners leading the campus redevelopment.

L.A. General Medical Center

Hospital

Active county safety-net hospital on the campus

The county's flagship public hospital, serving more than one million patients annually.

Timeline

1934 October 2026

8 events Latest: 2 days ago

Tap a bar to jump to that date

October 2026
Board adopts master plan, certifies Final SEIR
Latest Approval

Board of Supervisors votes to adopt the LACGH Campus Master Plan and certifies its final environmental impact report.
2 days ago
May 2026
Draft environmental impact report released
Environmental review

Draft Subsequent EIR published for public review, detailing up to 8.1 million square feet of new uses.
May 2026
January 2023
Centennial Partners selected as developer
Selection

Board authorizes a public-private partnership with the Centennial Partners team led by Primestor and Bayspring.
January 2023
2018
Solis motion launches feasibility study
Planning

Supervisor Hilda Solis authors the board motion directing a study of the building's adaptive reuse.
2018
2014
Earlier campus master plan adopted
Planning

County adopts an earlier master plan and environmental impact report for the campus.
2014
2008
Medical services move to new building
Transition

Services transfer to the new LA General Medical Center next door, leaving the old building mostly vacant.
2008
January 1994
Northridge earthquake damages hospital
Disaster

The 6.7-magnitude quake damages the building; stricter state seismic codes for hospitals follow.
January 17th, 1994
1934
L.A. County General Hospital opens
Landmark

The 19-story Art Deco hospital opens as a county landmark, later credited as the birthplace of emergency medicine.
1934

Scenarios

First phase breaks ground by 2029

Likely Resolves by End of 2029

Discussed by: County officials and the Centennial Partners team, who say stabilization work is already underway

With the final SEIR certified, the developer moves from planning to entitlements and financing. The West Campus commerce hub and the adaptive reuse of the General Hospital building are the most likely early phases. The county's flexible master plan allows individual projects to advance incrementally as market conditions allow.

CEQA lawsuit challenges the master plan

Possible Resolves by End of 2026

Discussed by: Community stakeholders who raised concerns about density, displacement, and traffic during the engagement process

California law gives challengers roughly 30 days after approval to file a suit under the California Environmental Quality Act. A lawsuit could seek to void the SEIR certification, forcing additional review and delaying all phases. The county's extensive engagement record and its stated Community Benefits Agreement could help it defend the plan in court.

Plan stalls, groundbreaking slips into the 2030s

Uncertain Resolves by End of 2029

Discussed by: The plan's own 25-year buildout window, which lets phases be timed to market conditions

The flexible framework allows phases to sit undeveloped if financing stays expensive or rents soften. Centennial Partners could delay groundbreakings without losing the approved master plan. The 25-year window means the plan can remain approved but dormant for years without failing.

Historical Context

2 moments from history that rhyme with this story — and how they unfolded.

October 1994

Presidio of San Francisco (1994)

The Army's 1,500-acre Presidio post transferred to the National Park Service after base closure. The Presidio Trust, created in 1996, was given authority to lease buildings to private tenants to generate revenue for preservation.

Then

The Trust leased historic buildings to offices and nonprofits, including Lucasfilm, which built its Letterman Digital Arts Center on the site in 2005.

Now

The Presidio became a national model for self-funding public land preservation, blending housing, offices, and parkland over two decades.

Why this matters now

Shows how large public tracts with historic buildings can be redeveloped through phased public-private partnerships, with revenue from new uses funding the preservation of landmarks.

August 2005

Charity Hospital, New Orleans (2005)

The 2,000-bed Art Deco Charity Hospital closed after Hurricane Katrina flooded its basement and cut power. State officials decided not to reopen it, citing damage and cost, despite its status as the region's main public hospital.

Then

Patients were shifted elsewhere and the building sat vacant for nearly two decades while proposals for reuse repeatedly stalled over funding and political disagreements.

Now

The building became a symbol of the difficulty of redeveloping large historic public hospitals, illustrating how long vacancy can persist when ownership and funding are tangled.

Why this matters now

A cautionary parallel: L.A. County avoided Charity's fate by acting early with a dedicated master developer and a funded environmental review, but the risk of a dormant landmark persists if financing stalls.