The projects will give a preference to local residents and workers.

Joan Ling, the executive director of CCSM, said the rehab projects represent a shift in focus for the nonprofit developer away from new construction toward purchasing and sprucing up old buildings that are more easily purchasable in the current economy.

“We buy these buildings and a lot of them have a fair amount of deferred maintenance and we fix them up and then it's good for another 50 years,” Ling said.

She said the projects come with a lot of green measures, including zeroscape landscaping and solar panels.

“We buy them to fix them up as part of sustainability efforts,” she said.

All rehabbed units will be completed over the next year. The developer is allowing all tenants who lived in the buildings prior to acquisition to remain.

The 11 projects, which include improvements to the city-owned Mountain View Mobile Home Park and a 20-unit senior housing development currently under construction at 14th Street and Broadway, are distributed throughout the city, with only a few clusters east of Cloverfield Boulevard where there are about five planned.

“We do try to spread our acquisitions across all the multi-family neighborhoods in the city,” Ling said. “If you look at all the addresses, we have accomplished that.”

About 95 large family units will be created through three new developments with CCSM. The total development cost for the projects, which are located at 2802 Pico Blvd., 2602 Broadway and 430 Pico, have yet to be determined but they received a combined $18.4 million loan through City Hall for site acquisition. The income eligibility will be targeted toward low and very-low income households.

Kate Vernez, the assistant to the city manager for government relations, said the line of credit with Bank of America was well timed in advance of the tightening of the credit market.

“The current loans are for affordable housing throughout the city, which reflects our commitment to geographic diversity within the city,” she said.

City Hall is also currently working on a loan for locally-based F.A.M.E. Redevelopment.   Continue »

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