CYPRESS : Construction Begins on Senior Apartments

A groundbreaking ceremony near the intersection of Lincoln Avenue and Grindlay Street on Tuesday celebrated more than the launching of a new apartment building for seniors.

Cypress School District officials also cheered the predicted $100,000-a-year income the apartment complex will bring to elementary schools.

In an unusual arrangement, city and school agencies worked out a complicated land swap that resulted in the elementary school district becoming a 60% partner in the new apartment complex. Called Cypress Park, the building will have 126 units for residents 60 or older. Completion of the building is scheduled by next spring.

Part of the annual profit from the apartments will go to the Cypress Education Foundation, which is the nonprofit, fund-raising arm of the Cypress School District. The foundation will turn over all the money to the school district, Supt. William D. Eller said.

“We expect to get an annual cash flow [from the apartment complex] of about $100,000 a year,” Eller said, adding that the money will go to the district’s general fund, where it can be spent as needed for elementary schools.

The land swap between the city and school district involved the defunct Cypress School property near Lincoln and Grindlay. Eller said the exchange and construction arrangement involved the cooperation of the Cypress City Council, the Cypress Redevelopment Agency, the school district and the Cypress Education Foundation.

The apartment complex is being built next to the city’s existing Senior Center.

“The Cypress Park [apartment] development provides the best of all worlds--quality housing for seniors adjacent to the excellent Senior Center,” said Ed Southfield, president of the Cypress School District board of trustees. “It fits beautifully into the goals of the Redevelopment Agency, and, most importantly, it will provide a creative revenue source to the benefit of the children of the Cypress School District.”