Meta Housing Corporation Breaks Ground On Affordable Housing Community in Vernon, Calif.
Meta Housing Corporation has announced that it has broken ground on its latest community, Vernon Village Park. The project is the first-ever new private multifamily development in California’s smallest incorporated city, which totaled a population of 112 in the 2010 U.S. Census.
By Joshua Ayers, Senior Editor
From left to right: Kevin Maffris – President, Y&M Architects; Councilmember Thomas Martin – City of Maywood; Councilmember Richard Villarreal – City of Maywood; Honorable Ricardo Lara – 33rd Senate District; Honorable Kevin de León – 22nd Senate District; Michelle Espinosa Coulter – Project Manager, Meta Housing Corporation; Kasey M. Burke – President, Meta Housing Corporation; Honorable Michael McCormick – Mayor, City of Vernon; Councilmember Luz A. Martinez – City of Vernon; Councilmember William “Bill” Davis – Mayor Pro Tempore, City of Vernon; Councilmember Richard Maisano, City of Vernon; Councilmember Michael A. Ybarra – City of Vernon; Chris Maffris – Vice President, Meta Housing Corporation
Los Angeles—Los Angeles-based affordable and market rate apartment developer Meta Housing Corporation has announced that it has broken ground on its latest community, Vernon Village Park, in the heavily industrial city of Vernon, Calif., near downtown Los Angeles. The project is the first-ever new private multifamily development in California’s smallest incorporated city, which totaled a population of 112 in the 2010 U.S. Census.
“Vernon employs over 55,000 people, but as a historically industrial city, lacks housing for these workers and their families,” says Meta Housing Corporation President Kasey Burke. “By working closely with city officials, we were able to break ground on an apartment community that will ultimately serve the needs of the city’s workers by giving them an affordable, state-of-the-art apartment community to call home.”
Meta Housing was able to get the project afloat by working extensively with the City of Vernon and non-profit partner, Community Home Builders and Associates. Additional partnerships forged with the California Credit Allocation Committee, Bank of America, Federal Home Loan Bank San Francisco – Affordable Housing Program and the California Community Reinvestment Corporation was integral to the progression of the project.
“We wanted to design this community to give its residents personal privacy, as well as community open space,” says Meta Housing Corporation Vice President Chris Maffris. “To accomplish this, the project will feature five separate two-story buildings that will be organized around multiple courtyards designed to encourage community events and interaction between neighbors.”
The project will be constructed to meet the United States Green Building Council’s LEED Silver standards and is scheduled to complete mid-2015.
The community, located at 4675 52nd Drive, will offer a spread of one-, two- and three-bedroom units and amenities will include a community room with kitchen, computer room, meeting room, laundry facilities, a courtyard and barbecue area, a playground and edible community gardens.
“In addition to its modern design, Vernon Village Park will offer residents unique free services to further enhance quality of life, such as adult education programs, as well as health and wellness services,” Maffris says.
Those programs include career-oriented tutorials such as computer classes, job search assistance and financial literacy assistance, as well as lifestyle-oriented programs such as health and wellness sessions, blood pressure testing, a well-baby clinic, pharmacist reviews of prescriptions, healthy families sign ups, nutrition planning and a brown bag program.
