LZ-Cresh was one of four Imperial landing zones in Jedha City, a walled city located on the desert moon of Jedha. These landing zones were created by the Empire when they took control of the city. Finding the local spaceport inadequate to their needs, the Imperials promptly set about clearing four separate locations within the city to use as landing zones and staging areas for their operations. Since Jedha City was built on a mesa, there simply was no room to expand the spaceport, so in order to create the landing zones, the Imperials leveled the buildings that stood in their way, with no regard to the residents or businesses they displaced.
Of the four landing zones, LZ-Aurek was the largest and saw the most traffic, while the three other sites, LZ-Besh, LZ-Cresh, and LZ-Dorn, were smaller and more makeshift, used exclusively to resupply stormtroopers on the ground and to load and unload cargo vessels for their kyber crystal runs. In 0 BBY, Baze Malbus and Chirrut Îmwe, two Guardians of the Whills, raided a Zeta-class Heavy Cargo Shuttle landing on LZ-Cresh, donating the stolen loot to the Gimm sisters' orphanage.