Could Costco Bring Its Own Mixed-Use Concept to D-FW? Possibly, Analysts Say

The 2006 movie Idiocracy might have been more foretelling for Costco than previously imagined.

In Idiocracy, Luke Wilson’s character participates in a top-secret hibernation program. The program is so secret that it is forgotten, and he wakes up in the distant future as the most intelligent guy on the planet.

In his adventure to get back home, Wilson encounters several surprises, including a memorable journey into a ridiculous-sized Costco that occupies several square miles of floor space with thousands of aisles, public transit, and a crashed plane that no one bothered to clear.

A Costco that massive sounds far-fetched, of course. But it comes to mind when checking out this new Costco concept in South Los Angeles.

Why Aren’t There More Affordable Housing Units? This Mixed-Use Project is a Case-in-Point

The project, which was announced last year in a news release, was recently approved and is scheduled to open in the coming years. Developer Thrive Living revealed renderings of Costco as a mixed-use residential model with multiple floors, open courtyard space, and other amenities. AO designed the project.

The project would encompass the store and its parking spaces and 800 residential units, including 184 set aside for low-income tenants.

As Texans who are prone to think big, you wonder whether Costco is planning a similar concept here. Possibly. Not out of the question. Other developers have done it around here.

Costco isn’t revealing its national plans. However, real-estate analysts CoStar speculated: This model isn’t just something novel for Los Angeles; it “may have national retail implications for Costco.”

The project is being built on a vacant five-acre lot that was formerly a hospital. It will encompass the store, its parking, and 800 individual apartments, as well as a fitness area, multi-use community space, multiple courtyards and landscaped paths, a rooftop pool, and other amenities.

As California development goes, critics emerge. Housing activist Joe Cohen likely has seen Idiocracy. He has called it the “Costco Prison.”

“Living inside it won’t be like living in a prison, obviously,” he told the San Francisco Chronicle. “But it is a bunch of small units along these long hallways, with a massive recreation center as an amenity space. From a plan view, it looks like an old-school prison design.”

But Texans will likely embrace it. Developers in North Texas have built supermarkets within mixed-use developments. It’s been done to death, but Costco hasn’t entered the fray yet.

There’s nothing wrong with going to your favorite Costco and scarfing down a few samples or picking up a 30-pack of toilet paper. It sounds cooler to just haul it to your apartment — on top of Costco.