- Missing Middle, Found
- 48 mixed-income, family-sized homes.
- 21% of the building affordable at deeply affordable levels (50% AMI)
- Black, woman and locally owned and led.
- Community art & Local Retail
Where It Began
In 1995, Lucretia Clark purchased the building at 5365 Crenshaw Boulevard — a step made possible with the support of her husband, Henry Clark — where she had built Renaissance Hair Salon since 1985. It was where her children grew up, where the neighborhood gathered, and where a family’s foothold in Crenshaw became something permanent.
Lucretia Clark · Renaissance Hair Salon · 5365 Crenshaw Boulevard
A Family’s Decision, The Harder Path
When the building passed to her children, Jamial Clark and Bridgette Reed, the easy path was to sell. They chose the harder one. For six years they explored options, turning down offer after offer — because keeping Black ownership along the Crenshaw corridor, and reinvesting in the community that raised them, mattered more than a quick sale.
Charles Wise, Jamial Clark, Bridgette Reed & Kacy Keys · Groundbreaking, December 2024
2021 · The Partnership
Four People, One Project
In 2021, the Clarks met Kacy Keys and Charles Wise of Praxis Development Group. Kacy, a Los Angeles native with family roots in the city dating back to 1910 and nearly thirty years of development experience, founded Praxis in 2019 with a single principle: Building with Purpose.
Praxis’s model — partnering with landowners rather than buying them out — meant the Clarks would remain owners, the vision would be shared, and the legacy would stay intact.
2024 · Groundbreaking
In December 2024, the family and Praxis broke ground — the first Black-, woman-, and locally-owned ground-up development on the Crenshaw corridor. [Pair with the existing groundbreaking photo.]
2026 · The Finish Line
Construction is fully financed, and the building opens its doors in early 2027. What isn’t financed is everything that makes this more than a building: homes kept affordable at 50% AMI beyond what the city requires, the build-out that lets a community-serving business — not the highest bidder — open on the ground floor, a community mural on 54th Street, and sidewalk improvements connecting to Destination Crenshaw. The Clark on 54th Community Benefit Fund covers these community benefits: $1,613,120 total, with $1,263,120 still to raise.
LA Times, NBC4, and LA Business Journal have all covered the project.
Every supporter who helps finish this building will be permanently recognized at The Clark on 54th.
You may also send checks payable to the California Community Foundation, noting that the donation is for The Clark on 54th. Checks should be mailed to:
California Community Foundation
717 W Temple St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Contributions to the California Community Foundation represent irrevocable gifts subject to the legal and fiduciary control of the foundation’s board of directors. This charge will appear on your credit card statement as a payment to “Calif Comm Fdn – CCF”. In addition, California Community Foundation incurs a third-party administrative fee of 2.7 percent for credit card contributions. The foundation will charge the fee directly to the individual fund.