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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   29425 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of October 6, 2025

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Living a block from (the entrance of) a Walmart is actually an amazing thing for QOL if you can manage it. I walked to Walmart a lot when I was living right next to one.

I think we should build housing on the roofs of megamarkets like walmart and costco.

I think we should build housing on the roofs of megamarkets like Walmart and Costco.

There was a news story about this back in 2023.

The nation’s first mixed-use development to feature 800 apartments above a Costco Wholesale store is in the works in south Los Angeles.

The community will include 184 apartments, or 23% of the total units, dedicated to low-income households. There will be a mix of offerings at 30%, 50%, and 80% of the area median income (AMI) levels, with the exact unit allocation still be to be finalized. Plans call for the remaining 616 units to be non-subsidized affordable and workforce housing, serving households around the 120% to 150% AMI levels.

The project is being developed by Thrive Living, a national real estate firm that acquires underutilized properties in urban markets with significant housing affordability gaps. The Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles is a partner in the project.

Like Thrive’s other projects, the development is privately financed without the use of government subsidies such as low-income housing tax credits, according to officials.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held for the 5035 Coliseum development last September. Construction is expected to take up to two-and-a-half years as the team transforms an old commercial site into a new retail and housing community.

However, Google Maps does not indicate that construction has progressed very far.

23% of the total units, dedicated to low-income households

I live in a nice area specifically to get away from "low income households". This is such a poison pill.

I've lived on top of a supermarket before. It's not ideal because of all the noise, especially early morning deliveries. Lots of crashing and banging.

Optional IRC appendix BG prescribes a minimum STC (Sound Transmission Class) of 45 between dwelling units. According to the Architectural Graphic Standards for Residential Construction, an ordinary drywall+stud+drywall interior wall has STC of only 30–35, but using four layers of drywall rather than just two yields STC of 45–49, and adding insulation on top of that yields STC of 50–54. Similar methods presumably can be used on floors and exterior walls (though not on windows).

Yes, I'm sure there are techniques for reducing noise between dwellings, or even between dwellings and commercial units.

Chance of them being used and/or holding up are pretty low, except in luxury buildings (and sometimes not even then). And I wouldn't trust anything but concrete for between-floors. Nothing converts a person to single-family detached living like having someone noisy living above them -- there's been shootings over failure to install carpeting.

Huh, nice.

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