A Feeling of Rejuvenation

Carolina Lopez had heard the neighborhood buzz for several months: Everyone on South Minnie Street was going to get a new apartment. But she dismissed it as the wishful thinking of immigrants like herself.

Last week, Lopez learned that rumors sometimes are true.

Her apartment--a one-bedroom unit she shares with her son, husband and another couple in a dilapidated building on South Minnie Street in Santa Ana--and 126 others will be renovated thanks to an $8.1-million bond offering approved this month by the Santa Ana Housing Authority.

The money will be used to finance the purchase and reconditioning of 127 units by Avalon Communities LLC, a Los Angeles-based firm that specializes in rehabilitating homes in poor neighborhoods throughout the state.

Avalon President Leo Puig said he expects the bonds to be sold next month and repairs to begin in late August. The buildings are currently owned by Kris Kakkar, a real estate venture capitalist.

While Avalon was negotiating with Kakkar, the nonprofit Orange Housing Corp., which has already renovated 60 units on the street, announced that it will close escrow next week on 30 additional units the company has bought. An additional 20 units already owned by Orange Housing are undergoing repairs.

When Avalon, a for-profit company, and the city finalize their deal with Kakkar, just under half of the units on the street will either have been renovated or be scheduled for rehabilitation. The Avalon-owned units will be managed by the Santa Ana-based nonprofit Civic Center Barrio Housing Corp.

Councilman Jose Solorio, who represents the area, called the renovation project “a modest quest for housing.”

“But these improvements will offer [tenants] a sense of decency and pride. For many it will be the first time they have ever lived in something new,” he said.

The Minnie Street apartments are among the most densely populated in Orange County. City officials said about 3,500 people live in 527 units; about 1,000 live in the 127 units that Avalon is buying. Most of the units have only one bedroom and are home to a large number of illegal immigrants.

For Lopez, a hospital laundry room worker whose day begins at 5:40 a.m. when she catches a bus to her job in Newport Beach, the renovation could not have begun at a better time.

“Sometimes it’s depressing living here,” she said. “We want to move, but we can’t afford a better place to live. But now that we know that our home will be fixed, it gives me hope for my son. He deserves a better home and life than we’ve had.”

City officials have promised that no residents will be displaced by the renovation project, regardless of how many live in a unit. Some one-bedroom units house up to 10 people. But when current tenants leave, only five people will be allowed to live in a one-bedroom unit, six in a two-bedroom.

The three-block area is commonly known as Minnie Street. It is a location--and a name--that officials say carries a stigma because of the area’s history of violent crime.

A few years ago, residents formed a tenants association and demanded action from the city and police. The drug dealers and gang members were forced out, creating a sense of empowerment among the mostly Latino residents, who renamed their neighborhood Cornerstone Village.

Barry Cottle, an Orange Housing officer, said Cornerstone Village residents are showing great pride in their neighborhood.

“These people are good, decent folks, working hard to make ends meet,” he said. “You can actually see their growing pride in their homes, now that they know the stories about renovation and new homes weren’t just talk.”

About two months ago, Orange Housing and city officials threw a party with pizza, soda and cake for residents. The purpose was to let tenants know about the renovation plans.

“We blocked off an area of the street and had about 500 people show up. We walked them through the buildings we’re rehabbing, so they could get a glimpse of the future,” Cottle said. “The construction company also had people there to show them what the finished buildings and landscaping were going to look like.”

Construction crews will gut the interior of each apartment, upgrade the wiring and plumbing, rebuild the walls and install, among other things, new appliances, cabinets, sinks, bathtubs, showers and flooring.

The city is paying $5 million to restore the exteriors, giving the buildings modern facades and landscaping. More than a dozen of the property owners formed the Cornerstone Village Owners Assn. and agreed to fix the interiors by 2004. In addition, they agreed to pay $15 per unit a month for landscaping, janitorial services, security and other costs when the redevelopment is completed.

Two buildings on the east side of the street, however, stand in stark contrast to the others being spruced up. They are owned by a landlord who lives in Sausalito and refuses to participate in the project, city officials say.

Crews are beginning to work on the exterior of buildings on the west side of Minnie Street, prompting questions from anxious residents about when their homes will be renovated inside. So far, about 60 units have been completely renovated; several dozen more are in progress. Eventually, housing officials hope that all 527 units in the area will be renovated.

The work has inspired residents to make changes in other areas of their lives. A woman who wished to be identified only as Juanita said the renovations motivated some residents to sign up for English classes at the complex’s learning center.

“This [renovation] is a sign that our lives are moving forward,” she said. “So a number of us want to learn English. Maybe some of us will be able to find better jobs if we learn English.”

Rafael Gomez, who has lived in one of the units for five years with his wife and three children, said he has seen a new attitude in the tenants who live in the units next door refurbished by Orange Housing.

“I’ve noticed that there is no trash on their grounds. People appreciate their new homes,” he said.

Although interior renovation has not started in Gomez’s building, the apartments are some of the best-kept on the street. The owner installed new windows in all units and included two clean laundry rooms with new washers and dryers.

Solorio credits the new optimism among residents to their own demands on the city for change.

“They’re poor. They’re immigrants,” he said. “But they’re also working people fighting for a better quality of life. Their desires aren’t any different than from what you and I want.”

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Minnie Make-Over

Santa Ana plans to sell $8 million in bonds to buy and renovate 127 apartments on Minnie Street.