One of Torrance’s most recognizable commercial properties has surfaced in a regional housing study.

The South Bay Cities Council of Governments recently completed its “South Bay Cities Restock: Sustainable Pathways to Housing” study, examining commercial properties that might be candidates for future residential redevelopment.

Torrance was one of three participating cities, along with Carson and Hawthorne.

Among the Torrance sites identified was the Roadium Open Air Market property along Redondo Beach Boulevard.

The study looked at properties such as shopping centers, parking lots, office sites and commercial corridors that may be underperforming, over-parked or no longer using their land as intensively as they could.

That does not mean the Roadium is closing or that a housing development has been approved.

The study is essentially a feasibility exercise — asking whether certain commercial sites could physically and economically support housing if property owners and cities ever decided to pursue redevelopment.

The broader reason is simple: the South Bay is largely built out, yet cities are still required to plan for additional housing.

That leaves officials increasingly looking at existing commercial land rather than undeveloped property.

For Torrance residents, the Roadium example makes that planning conversation much more tangible.

Instead of imagining housing on an abstract parcel, the study is examining places people already know.

Whether anything ultimately happens at the Roadium property is another question entirely.

But its inclusion shows the kinds of locations Torrance and neighboring cities may increasingly examine as they try to accommodate future housing without expanding outward.

External Link: Read the South Bay commercial-to-housing study