July 15, 2019
143 Affordable Apartments, New Community Center Celebrated at Grand Reopening of Town & Country
San Diego Housing Commission partnership rehabilitation ensures apartments remain affordable for 55 years
SAN DIEGO, CA — The award-winning renovation of Town & Country apartments, a San Diego Housing Commission (SDHC) partnership project, extended the affordability of apartments for low-income families while also adding affordable units and a new community center for programs that assist residents.
“This is an example of what we need to do more of in this City,” San Diego Mayor Kevin L. Faulconer said at today’s grand reopening ceremony for Town & Country. “And, that’s why I’m so proud of how this turned out. These projects are not easy. It does take tremendous teamwork to get it across the finish line. But as we talk about constructing more housing in San Diego, which I’m a huge champion of – cutting the bureaucracy, cutting the red tape to do that – it’s incredibly important to invest in the housing stock that we have.”
An SDHC partnership with Chelsea Investment Corporation, Town & Country provides 143 rental apartments that will remain affordable for 55 years for households with income up to 60 percent of the San Diego Area Median Income, currently $64,200 per year for a four-person household.
The rehabilitation converted 46 previously market-rate apartments into affordable units and extended the affordability of 97 units. Town & Country also includes two unrestricted managers’ units.
“I don’t need to tell you all what a safe, stable home means to these residents. We know that a place to call home can make a difference for a child’s success in school, for their health outcomes, and for a family’s ability to climb the economic ladder. These homes and the work that is done to get us to this moment, is about so much more than just that we can see,” said SDHC Chair of the Board Stefanie Benvenuto.
The new community center constructed as part of the rehabilitation project provides a larger location for resident services, such as a computer lab, after-school programs for children, and adult education. San Diego Community Housing Corporation provides these services.
“They do wonderful things,” said Chelsea Investment Corporation Founder & CEO Jim Schmid. “It’s the after-school tutoring, computers, but things that help people through different stages of their lives – résumé preparation, getting jobs, health issues, nutritional cooking, and on and on and on. So it’s an institution that’s priceless, and one of our jobs was to get you a better home.”
The new community center was built on underutilized space that included a previously filled-in swimming pool. Construction of this community center also freed up two units that previously were used as offices. These units are now affordable rental apartments.
Renovations also included new kitchens and bathrooms, energy-efficient appliances and durable wood flooring in the interiors of the apartments, as well as exterior renovations, such as new roofs, improvements to travel paths, the replacement of water supply lines, new fencing, and landscaping improvements, as well as a new playground.
SDHC acquired the property in February 2017. Later that year, SDHC authorized the issuance of $28.3 million in tax-exempt Multifamily Housing Revenue Bonds to facilitate the comprehensive rehabilitation of the property, with an estimated total rehabilitation cost of $48.1 million. The bonds were approved by the San Diego City Council, in its role as the Housing Authority of the City of San Diego. The financing of the rehabilitation also included an SDHC seller carryback loan of $13.2 million.
SDHC worked with its nonprofit affiliate, Housing Development Partners, as well as Chelsea Investment Corporation to rehabilitate Town & Country.
Earlier this year, the rehabilitation of Town & Country was recognized with a Ruby Award from the San Diego Housing Federation as the rehabilitation project of the year.
Ruby Awards honor “excellence in affordable housing and community development, highlighting the accomplishments of people, agencies and developments that work to ensure all San Diegans, regardless of income, have a safe, stable place they can afford to call home.”
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Media Contact:
Scott Marshall, Vice President of Communications
San Diego Housing Commission
619-578-7138
