Whittier

A zone change that will allow a senior citizens housing project to be built on the former William Penn Hotel site in Uptown Village has been approved by the Whittier City Council. The change from commercial/residential to commercial/planned development clears the way for construction of 75 units of low-income senior housing on the Friends Avenue side of the hotel site.

The high-rise complex will be built by the California Yearly Meeting, the development arm of the Quaker Church. The group is developing about a third of the 2.3-acre site. Abrams Development Inc. of Los Alamitos will buy and develop the remainder of the vacant parcel on Philadelphia Street between Friends and Washington avenues, erecting a four-story, 158-unit senior housing complex for moderate- and upper-income elderly.

Both projects should be under way by early next year, with completion in early 1987.