Buena Park approves housing project with for-sale units, affordable senior apartments

Developers are poised to transform a triangular parcel off Beach Boulevard in Buena Park into multigenerational housing after gaining City Council approval this week.

The project site is the longtime home of the Amway Nutrilite Center, which is planning to close its office and distribution operations by the end of the year.

Shopoff Realty Investments acquired the nearly 14-acre Amway property last year for $60 million. The Irvine-based developer proposed 50 affordable senior apartments, 114 townhomes and 117 duets but needed sweeping approvals from council members, including a zoning change, to move forward.

The Buena Park City Council, which has positioned itself as a leader in Orange County on housing, welcomed the project during its Tuesday meeting.

“We have a significant housing need,” said Mayor Connor Traut. “We were looking at many different uses…and housing is the one that not only pens out better but, I think, meets the moment of what our community truly needs.”

The project will bring 281 units of housing off the thoroughfare, which is close to the 5 and 91 freeways and a nearby Metrolink station.

All but six of the affordable senior apartments are one-bedroom units.

Thirty-eight units are slated to be in the low-income affordability range. The remaining 12 units are split evenly between very low and extremely low ranges.

The inclusion of the affordable senior apartments allowed Shopoff to qualify for a density bonus and add more housing units, but it kept the overall project footprint smaller.

“Affordable housing is a big mission for our company,” Scott Di Cesare, a Shopoff representative, told the City Council. “Over 15% of our units are senior affordable. There’ll be a manager on site with a goal of giving local fixed income seniors an opportunity to stay within Buena Park.”

The townhomes and the duets are planned as for-sale three-story units with two-car garages.

Several organizations spoke in favor of the housing project, including the Orange County Business Council, the Building Industry Assn. and People for Housing OC.

Elizabeth Hansburg, executive director of People for Housing OC, praised the proposed development for offering both first-time homebuyer opportunities and affordable options for seniors.

“I’m worried about old people who aren’t going to start working more and have riches to spend on rising rents,” she said. “The affordable senior component is really important.”

Jose Hernandez, a representative of the Western States Regional Council of Carpenters, pushed the council to adopt a workforce agreement related to the project that would include prioritizing local hires, prevailing wages and apprentices hired from state-certified apprenticeship programs.

Traut asked what Buena Park could do to promote the hiring of a local workforce.

“We are in partnership with Lennar, who is a national home builder, and we do recognize the carpenters union,” said Steve Logan, Shopoff’s senior vice president. “We think they do fantastic work, and we’ve had multiple conversations with them about bringing their workforce to the site. We just expressed to them that they had to be a competitive workforce. We’ve asked if they would like to have a conversation with Lennar to move that forward.”

Councilmember Joyce Ahn asked what measures would be taken to mitigate noise concerns, given the project site’s proximity to Beach Boulevard, which is a highway, and the Metrolink rail line.

Ian McAleese, a senior planner for the city, said Lennar plans to build the units facing the rail line and the highway with sound dampening materials. There will also be an 8-foot wall along the railroad corridor. Developers also amended open space plans to include a basketball court, nature walk and playground area.

Shopoff estimated the homes would open to the public by 2029 at the earliest.

The City Council unanimously approved the project.