New Affordable Housing Opens in Anaheim
Anaheim, Calif.--Greenleaf Family Apartments in Anaheim, designed for families who earn between 30 percent to 60 percent of area median income, was completed 60 days ahead of schedule and is opening next week at 100 percent leased.
Dees Stribling, Contributing Editor
Anaheim, Calif.–Greenleaf Family Apartments in Anaheim, designed for families who earn between 30 percent to 60 percent of area median income, was completed 60 days ahead of schedule and is opening next week at 100 percent leased. The property consists of 20 garden-style apartments within two residential buildings, with rents ranging from about $500 to $1,400 for the one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments.
Greenleaf is the third affordable housing community on which the City of Anaheim and Anaheim Redevelopment Agency have partnered with developer Jamboree Housing Corp. The development site for Greenleaf was originally a freeway remnant parcel owned by Orange County Transit Authority. The other two properties, Monarch Pointe and Diamond Apartment Homes, were also developed from remnant parcels along the Interstate 5. Advent Design Group provided Greenleaf’s architectural design and Advent Cos. was the general contractor.
The Greenleaf development also includes a separate 1,780-square-foot recreation center that sports resident meeting space, a computer lab, tutoring center, and a property management office. Resident services will be provided to Greenleaf tenants by Jamboree’s resident services group, Housing with Heart. Offered at more than 38 of Jamboree’s properties, Housing with Heart features an on-site resident services coordinator to provide resident services that foster learning, health, and community-building among tenants.
As usual with affordable housing, funding for the development was a complex mix. A key source was Enterprise Community Partners Inc., and its affiliated companies, Enterprise Community Investment and Enterprise Community Loan Fund, which provided a $4.4 million Low-Income Housing Tax-Credit equity investment. Other permanent funding sources included a $600,000 permanent loan from US Bank, a land lease from the Anaheim Redevelopment Agency valued at $2.2 million, and $680,000 in combined loans and fee waivers provided by the City of Anaheim and the Anaheim Redevelopment Agency.
The property has a number of sustainable features. These include solar panels and solar tube skylights to reduce electric usage in common areas such as the community room; CRI green label carpeting; low VOC adhesives, and Energy Star appliances. It does not, however, have a formal green certification.
According to Jamboree, sustainable features make it easier to put together financing for this kind of development. “That’s true, depending on which funding source we’re using,” Michael Massie, Jamboree’s housing development manager, tells MHN. “California has been ahead of the curve on green issues and therefore many of the funding sources allocated by the state actually require certain sustainable measures, above and beyond code requirements. Other programs offer an advantage to applications with significant sustainable measures. This is one of the reasons Jamboree has been successful in obtaining financing.”
