Bell Gardens : 126-Unit Housing Complex to Be for First-Time Buyers

About 900 prospective homeowners have expressed interest in a 126-unit housing complex of townhomes and condominiums that will sell for as little as $44,000 each.

Thirty-one of the two-, three- and four-bedroom units will be reserved exclusively for Bell Gardens residents, with the remainder open to all qualified applicants, said John Carmona, director of the city’s Community Development Department.

The nonprofit Nehemiah West Housing Corp. is expected to begin construction on the $13-million project by March. The gated Nehemiah West complex, on a 4.71-acre site at Garfield and Gage avenues on the city’s eastern edge, is slated for completion one year later.

“We are very proud of this project,” Carmona said. “If this one is successful, it could lead to other projects. The city owns quite a few properties, and we are looking at whether we can do joint ventures there.”

All of the units will be sold to first-time home buyers whose annual household incomes are between $18,000 and $40,000, said project developer Loren Bloch of Community Dynamics in Santa Monica.

The least-expensive unit, a 900-square-foot, two-bedroom, two-bathroom condominium, will be priced at $92,806, but buyers will pay only $44,298 after state and local subsidies are applied, Bloch said. There will be 70 such units.