Building a Solid Foundation in the Affordable Housing Market : Development: Carson officials were impressed by Thomas Safran’s track record of 20 low-income projects. He seeks designs that are indistinguishable from commercial apartments.
In a city known for its heavy industry, a senior citizens’ complex is being built on the contaminated site of a onetime metal-plating plant in Carson.
Workers had to dig 65 feet to remove soil contaminated by a leaking underground fuel tank before ground could be broken for the complex last month.
Then, a complicated web of financing involving a host of government agencies and financial institutions had to be secured before the project on Avalon Boulevard could be built.
It all took five years, but those are the kinds of pitfalls developer Thomas Safran is accustomed to facing with affordable housing projects. Safran, 49, says the Avalon Courtyard project has gone smoothly.
“It’s second nature to me,” he said.
The Brentwood developer has spearheaded 20 developments for senior citizens or families in Southern California in as many years. His goal is to create low-cost housing indistinguishable from commercial apartments, even though he says he could make more money in the private sector.
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Scheduled to open in early 1995, Avalon Courtyard blends Colonial and Mediterranean designs, including balconies, window shutters and red-tile roofs. The building will include a community recreation center, an arts and crafts room, two courtyards and a subterranean parking garage. It also will feature extensive landscaping; utility lines will be buried.
Safran’s philosophy pleased city officials, who selected him after touring some of his previous projects and those of six other developers.
“Some of (the other applicants’ buildings) were long hallways that looked like a cheap motel,” said Carson Redevelopment Director Adolfo Reyes. “They didn’t have the personal touch.”
When the project is complete, a resident with an annual income of $20,280 or less will be charged $509 a month for a one-bedroom apartment; those making $16,900 or less will pay $418 a month. The city will provide additional rent subsidies to some Carson residents, although the guidelines have not been determined.
The city will pay about $2.5 million of the $9-million project. The California Community Reinvestment Corp. will invest about $2.5 million, and Mission Housing Investments, a subsidiary of Southern California Edison, will invest about $4 million.
“To do these kinds of projects takes a joint effort,” Safran said. “You now have many more layers of financing.”
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Local governments invest in such projects in part because the state now requires cities to have a blueprint to provide low-cost housing. Carson’s plan includes a goal of providing 10 to 20 new units of affordable housing each year.
Money for housing, however, is still tight, and there is no guarantee of a payoff when a project is built. Safran will earn a development fee, but the exact amount depends on the project coming in on budget. When he manages the place, rent increases will be limited to corresponding rises in median incomes of residents.
“Everything is controlled,” said Safran, who manages all but one of the projects he has developed.
So why stay with it?
“Money isn’t the only factor,” Safran said. “When you are all done, you have created a home for (seniors and families).”
Two years ago, his Monterey Park complex for low-income residents won two awards for architectural design from the Pacific Coast Builders conference, a trade group that encompasses 14 Western states and the Pacific Rim countries.
The 241-units, called Strathern Park Apartments, are scattered among 18 buildings that surround four courtyards. Instead of hallways, there are staircases or sidewalks to each unit.
The project also won praise from Los Angeles officials, who had been trying to clean up the site, which included several vacant homes and an encampment for vagrants.
The apartments “have been a very substantial contribution to the neighborhood,” said John McCoy, director of housing for the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency. “They are well-managed.”
Safran’s projects have not always been welcomed. After a 15-year debate, the Los Angeles City Council in March approved his plans to build a 64-unit senior citizens project along the Venice boardwalk despite protests from nearby residents who complained it was too dense.
The Carson project did not encounter such opposition, but it did encounter a few delays as workers removed dirt contaminated with gasoline. And Los Angeles County health agencies had to approve the work before building could begin.
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The city and Safran do not know how many will apply to live in the project, although new South Bay affordable housing projects in recent years have attracted thousands of applicants.
That type of demand would please many commercial developers, who are struggling because of a lack of commercial apartment projects. In fact, they now call Safran and take him to lunch.
“When I explain to them how complicated it is--how much red tape there is--by the time the meal ends, they are not as enthusiastic,” he said. “The bill just sits there. And they are the ones who took me out to lunch.”
