Seniors Housing & Healthcare Trends

LOS ANGELES: An affordable housing project will mix seniors, teenagers exiting foster care and low income families.

Community HousingWorks has finished construction and opened a $53 million affordable housing project in Linda Vista.

The five-story project at 2645 Ulric St. has 96 apartments, 10 of which have been set aside for veterans and 10 for teenagers who have reached the age of 18 and are no longer eligible for foster care.

Previously known as Ulrich Street Apartments, the name Amanecer means dawn in Spanish and is meant to symbolize a new beginning that the project gives its tenants, said John Witkowski, project manager of Community HousingWorks.

Amanecer is unusual for affordable housing projects because 29 of the apartments are three-bedroom units meant for families with 33 two-bedroom apartments, 22 one-bedroom apartments and 12 studio apartments.

Typically, affordable housing projects are made up primarily of studio and one-bedroom apartments.

“There aren’t a lot of three-bedroom apartments available in the market,” said Anna Slaby, vice president of real estate development for Community HousingWorks. “This development focuses on large families, people who are working hard. For many of them, this may be their first quality (housing) experience.”

The apartments range from about 400 square feet for studios, about 600 square feet for one-bedroom apartments, 700 square feet for two-bedroom apartments and about 1,000 square feet for three-bedroom apartments, Witkowski said.

Monthly rents are based on income and range from $576 to $1,300 for studio apartments, $612 to $1,388 for one-bedroom apartments, $723 to $1,657 for two-bedroom apartments, and $825 to $1,895 for three-bedroom apartments, according to the Community HousingWorks website.

The apartments are earmarked for people with annual incomes of 60% or less of the area median income, which equates to $78,060 for a family of four.

Built in collaboration with the San Diego Housing Commission, Amanacer was originally expected to be finished last summer.

“The project did take a little bit longer that we expected to complete,” Witkowski said. “We’re still experiencing COVID delays.”

Studio E, based in Bankers Hill, was the architect and Sun County Builders, based in Carlsbad, was the general contractor.

Amanecer covers about 1.5 acres of a nearly three-acre site that will include a separate project that’s already under construction by Community HousingWorks tentatively called Ulric 2 that will have 60 one-bedroom and two-bedroom affordable apartments for senior citizens.

The $37 million senior housing project is scheduled for completion later this year.

“Combined, it will be a really great community all around,” Slaby said.

Two apartment buildings that dated to the 1940s were razed to make room for the new apartments.

“This really brings more efficiency and capacity,” Slaby said.

Community HousingWorks acquired the property in 2017 for $8 million.

The U-shaped Amanacer wraps around an open courtyard, tot lot and playground in the middle of the complex.

“The tot lot is really programmed for large families but it’s also a great location relative to schools and parks,” Slaby said.

Amenities include 96 parking spaces, indoor and outdoor recreation areas, a laundry room, a fourth-floor terrace, a gym, a computer room, a 2,000-square-foot community room, a kitchen for nutrition classes, a barbecue and picnic area, and a small grouping of citrus trees meant to provide free fruit for residents.

“I love being able to create something for the residents that’s not just landscaping that looks good but provides nutrition,” Slaby said. “It’s really a great place.”

Tenant services will be provided by Home Start San Diego, the Veterans Administration, and Bayside Community Center.