Paradise Creek Apartments accomplishes two goals: It provides needed affordable housing for families and uplifts an entire neighborhood in National City, Calif.
The development’s recently completed second phase delivers 92 units targeted to residents earning 30% to 50% of the area median income and marks the completion of a larger 201-unit affordable housing community.
More than that, the project by Community HousingWorks (CHW) and Related California serves as a catalyst in the revitalization of the city’s West Side neighborhood, a residential area adjacent to transit and near the Navy shipyards. Over the year, it’s been contaminated by industrial uses, including auto body shops, metal platers, and warehouses.
“This was a broader community development, creating new homes but also revitalizing a neighborhood rich in connections to transit and with new park amenities,” says Mary Jane Jagodzinski, CHW senior vice president.The project, which replaces a public works yard and a former tour bus yard, goes back 15 years to a grassroots effort led by residents and city leaders seeking economic and environmental justice for the neighborhood, she says.
Paradise Creek brings the change they sought. The formerly toxic site has been certified under the LEED for Homes program, and the project is registered as LEED-Neighborhood Development. The improvements enable pedestrian and bike use as well as public transit, and the property is funding a new park.
Several unique funding sources contributed to the $51 million development. Paradise Creek was one of five projects in a brownfield pilot under the federal multi-agency Partnership for Sustainable Communities program.
It’s also an early user of the state’s cap-and-trade funding to reduce greenhouse gases with affordable housing. Additional funding includes low-income housing tax credits.
CHW provides different residents services, including financial fitness training, to meet the city’s goals that the affordable housing will serve as an incubator for future homeownership.
