San Jose property deal bolsters affordable homes near future BART
Renovations and plan to preserve affordable housing sprout for apartment complex
SAN JOSE >> A property deal for hundreds of apartments near downtown San Jose has cleared the way for a major renovation of the site that will also ensure the preservation of affordable housing for decades to come.
Community HousingWorks, a nonprofit that specializes in developing and preserving affordable homes, intends to revamp and upgrade the Parkside Terrace apartments in San Jose, following its purchase of the site.
“We are now going to be able to do a major renovation at Parkside,” said Mary Jane
Jagodzinski, senior vice president for housing and real estate development with Community HousingWorks.
The work at the apartment complex is expected to begin in early 2020, according to Kelly Moden, Community HousingWorks vice president of development.
“It should be a 12-month project,” Moden said. “We will re-roof all the buildings. Each unit will get new floors, bathroom upgrades, kitchen improvements, new windows. We will improve the sidewalks. We’re going to add new play structures. We will add solar to each building.”
To encourage socialization
among the residents, the renovation will improve the community room in the complex and add computers for the apartment dwellers.
Acting through an affiliate, Community HousingWorks paid $70 million on Dec. 13 for the Parkside Terrace apartment complex, according to Santa Clara
County public documents.
The apartments are located at 463 Wooster Ave. near the interchange of U.S. Highway 101 and McKee Road and relatively close to the site of a future BART station in San Jose.
Community HousingWorks also obtained $61.4 million in financing linked to the property purchase, the county property records show.
To help bankroll the purchase and the renovations,
JLL, a major commercial real estate firm, issued the loan financing, while Raymond James, a well-known investment firm, placed an equity investment for the purchase and the renovations.
The nonprofit will also use federal tax credits to help underpin the development.
“The financing and the investment will allow us to keep this as affordable housing for the next 55
years,” Jagodzinski said.
Following the renovation, 200 of the 201 units will be in the affordable range. The sole market-rate unit will be the home for the on-site manager. Plus, 20 of the affordable units will be fully compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, Moden said.
In April, Community HousingWorks completed a renovation of Sun Ridge Apartments in Concord. New kitchens, baths and
floors were among the array of upgrades and improvements at that East Bay complex.
During the renovation effort, the nonprofit will move residents out of their units on a rotating basis and return them to the same units they vacated after the work is complete on their apartment.
“Residents will move out for one week with a stipend,” Moden said. “When they move back in, the apartment will be brand new.”
Community HousingWorks is preparing to undertake the renovation at Parkside Terrace amid a severe housing crunch throughout the Bay Area.
“We very much appreciate the need for affordable housing in San Jose and the Silicon Valley region,” Jagodzinski said.