Underutilized Site Transformed to Interim Housing
Project Goal
The goal of this project was to reposition an underutilized former Board and Care into a high-quality, program-ready interim shelter through an adaptive reuse strategy. Beginning in 2019, DAECO partnered with the original ownership group to establish a long-term vision for renovating the site to support interim shelter use while meeting the operational, regulatory, and programmatic needs required for successful service delivery. The project was designed to be flexible and capable of serving multiple populations, allowing it to adapt quickly once a target population was identified.
Challenges
Like many complex adaptive reuse projects, this site faced significant challenges early in the process. An initial transaction fell apart, creating uncertainty around the future of the project. The building also required extensive upgrades to meet current ADA, fire life safety, and interim shelter standards, while maintaining cost efficiency and minimizing long-term maintenance risks. Additional challenges included navigating a lengthy entitlement and construction process, coordinating across multiple stakeholders, and ultimately leasing the property within a particularly difficult public-sector funding environment in 2025. Designing a site that could accommodate multiple populations—before a specific program operator or user was identified—added another layer of complexity to the project.
Solutions
Rather than disengage, DAECO remained committed to the site and leveraged its deep understanding of the interim shelter landscape and off-market relationships to identify and source a new buyer aligned with the project’s mission. The property was acquired through an off-market transaction, allowing the project to move forward under ownership committed to execution.
Under new ownership, DAECO delivered comprehensive, end-to-end services. We developed the initial schematic design and overall design concept, incorporating trauma-informed design principles to support better client outcomes. We led the entitlement process, navigated ADA and fire life safety requirements, and project-managed a year-long renovation that fully repositioned the former Board and Care facility through adaptive reuse.
The renovated site was intentionally designed to be program-ready and operationally efficient, with ADA accessibility throughout, staff offices with clear lines of sight across all three floors, staff break rooms, secure perimeter fencing, designated staff parking and ADA van access, and durable materials selected to reduce long-term maintenance and replacement costs.
Upon completion, DAECO led the marketing and leasing of the property, successfully leasing the site directly to the City of Los Angeles. We worked closely with Council District 5, bridging private real estate with public-sector and nonprofit stakeholders during a challenging funding environment. The result is a turnkey interim housing site that reflects the full scope of DAECO’s expertise and our ability to deliver complex projects from vision through lease execution.
Special Assets
DAECO has extensive experience in non-traditional assets throughout the greater Los Angeles area. Our team is well versed in distressed assets and REO’s having conducted over 300 BPO’s for commercial lenders and sold over 16 lender owned properties. Our expertise includes Master Leasing and Non-Profit acquisitions for housing programs. This expertise translates to assisting investors in the private market that are focused on creating housing opportunities. Our clients also benefit from our in-depth knowledge in supportive housing and assisted living facilities (ARF’s & RFCE’s)
Buyer Representation
Our buyer representation services are best in class due to our ability to listen to our client’s needs, source opportunities from our network of owners/brokers and identify well-vetted options that match our client’s individual needs. DAECO is skilled in contract negotiations and has a proven track record of guiding our clients through competitive markets to present winning bids. Our experience representing sellers has helped inform and shape our offer presentations to achieve success for our buyers.
Seller Representation
In DAECO’s 18 years of real estate experience, we amassed significant experience in qualifying potential buyers, vetting offers and guiding our sellers through counteroffers and often-complicated escrow process. We offer our sellers a strong marketing campaign to advertise their assets, a large database of potential buyers & brokers and asset knowledge from our experience across many asset types (multifamily, mixed-use, commercial). Using our adaptive reuse experience, we can view assets for their potential beyond their current condition therefore our sellers can take full advantage of all market opportunities.
