Councilman Curren Price Breaks Ground on $40M Slauson Connect Project in CD9

PublishedMarch 31, 2026

Los Angeles, CA–On a stretch of Slauson Avenue near Budlong that for decades carried the weight of disinvestment, the Slauson Connect Recreation and Education Center broke ground last weekend. Rusted train tracks that once cut through this South Central community has now become the foundation to foster connection, possibility, and long-overdue investment.

The Slauson Connect Recreation and Education Center, a $40 million project led by District 9 Councilman Curren Price, officially broke ground on March 28. The 15,000-square-foot facility will sit between Normandie and Budlong Avenues, adjacent to Metro’s Rail to River corridor, anchoring what city leaders describe as a reimagined spine of South Central.

But this isn’t just another city project—it’s a deliberate design intervention led by Paul Murdoch Architects, a firm known for community-centered, and environmentally responsive designs. Their portfolio includes everything from the Flight 93 National Memorial to local developments like the transformation of Earvin “Magic” Johnson Park in Los Angeles.

That same philosophy is embedded into Slauson Connect. The infrastructure is designed to reshape how the neighborhood functions. The firm’s approach centers on accessibility, environmental design, and long-term community impact—seen in features like the vegetative roofs, stormwater capture systems, and the seamless integration with pedestrian and bike pathways.

The $40 million investment is a layered mix of state grants focused on parks and underserved communities, and resources tied to broader infrastructure efforts like Metro’s Rail to River initiative. That project alone represents a $140 million investment into converting former freight rail lines into active transportation corridors, directly supporting the land Slauson Connect now sits beside. The project is part of a larger shift in how the city is being forced to reckon with long-standing inequities in park access, infrastructure, and public investment.

For years, the rail corridor along Slauson sat largely inactive—an industrial remnant that separated neighborhoods more than it served them. The tracks were a visual and physical barrier, a stretch of land that accumulated neglect, debris, and the quiet message that this part of the city could be overlooked.

Now, those same tracks have been transformed into a bike and pedestrian path as part of the Rail to River Active Transportation Corridor—an 8-mile route connecting Inglewood to the Los Angeles River. What was once dead space is now active infrastructure. And right next to it, Slauson Connect is rising as a destination.

The physical transformation is striking, when considering how much land has quietly been sitting unused. With the removal of the train tracks, the Slauson Connect site is land that many residents are seeing clearly for the first time.

The center is designed as a multi-use hub, but it’s also a statement about what South Central deserves. Inside, plans include a digital media arts studio equipped for broadcasting, game design, and performance production—tools that reflect where culture and careers are headed. There will be a green screen studio, after-school programming, and a childcare facility that acknowledges the realities of working families in the neighborhood.

Outside, the project expands into a 1.5-acre park lined with shade trees, pedestrian pathways, and a 3,300-square-foot vegetative roof designed for gathering, meditation, and environmental education. Beneath it all, underground stormwater systems will capture and filter runoff, turning the site itself into a living lesson in sustainability.

But what makes Slauson Connect particularly powerful is how it fits into a larger ecosystem of the “Greenway Network,” forming alongside Augustus F. Hawkins Natural Park and other neighborhood parks. In a district that has historically ranked among those with the fewest parks in Los Angeles, that kind of density matters. It changes how people move, how they gather, and how they experience their own community.

With completion expected ahead of the 2028 Olympics, the project positions South Central not just as a backdrop to global attention, but as a beneficiary of long-term infrastructure investment. And with Metro’s corridor project running alongside it, the scale of transformation is hard to overstate.

For years, Slauson has been associated with struggle, resilience, and survival. What’s happening now introduces a different narrative—one rooted in expansion, creativity, and ownership of space. Slauson Connect is still years away from completion, but the groundwork being laid now is already shifting perception and opening up possibility along Slauson Avenue.