Doors of $18M Affordable Seniors Apartment Building Open in Suburban Los Angeles

Los Angeles–Ontario Senior Housing Partners L.P., an affiliate of The Related Cos. of California, just made a much-needed contribution to the affordable seniors housing market in Suburban Los Angeles with the grand opening of the City Center Senior Apartments. Located 35 miles east of Los Angeles, the 76-unit property cost $18 million to complete.

Hopeful residents aged 55 years and over began submitting applications for an apartment at City Center in April 2009, a clear indication of the loud cry for affordable housing accommodations for seniors. “Demand for seniors housing is huge; we cannot supply enough housing for them,” Brent Schultz, director of Housing & Neighborhood Revitalization for the City of Ontario, tells MHN. “Every time we do a project like this, we have to set up a special process. Most of the time, we do lotteries so everyone has a fair chance. Right now, we have about 200 people on the City Center waiting list”

Carrying the address of 280 North Lemon Ave., City Center sits downtown, surrounded by the Ontario Senior Center, the City of Ontario Library, and in the near future, a new public park just across the street. The multifamily property encompasses 60 one-bedroom units and 15 two-bedroom units with monthly rents ranging from $326 to $687 to accommodate those earning 30 to 50 percent of the area median income. In addition to offering modern apartments, which include a unit designated for the onsite property manager, City Center provides tenants with such amenities as a fitness center, an activity center and a media room.

Financing City Center was a joint endeavor. Federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits produced tax credit equity totaling approximately $11.5 million. The remainder of the funding involved a gap loan consisting of $5.1 million in federal HOME funds and Low- and Moderate-Income Housing Funds through the Ontario Housing Authority and a $1.4 million privately financed loan.

City Center, however, is much more than a welcome addition to the affordable senior housing market. “It is another shot in the arm for downtown,” Schultz says. “It finishes off Ontario Town Square, a $100 million investment consisting of City Center and JH Snyder Company’s 160-unit apartment property and 140-unit townhouse development. But we’re not stopping here. We want to do more. We believe we need more rooftops like City Center because we want a diversity of people and a diversity of incomes.”