City’s Redevelopment Agency Awards Nearly $5.5 Million for Affordable Housing Project
Lillian Place Affordable Housing Development for Families to Receive Gap Funding from City’s new Redevelopment Affordable Housing Program

SAN DIEGO – Today, the Redevelopment Agency Board, comprised of the members of the City Council, approved $5,450,000 in gap funding for an affordable housing project for low to moderate income families located in downtown’s East Village.  Lillian Place, a proposed 74-unit for rent affordable housing project, marks the first development that will receive funding from the $55 million Redevelopment Affordable Housing Program created in February to promote affordable housing projects within the City.  The City of San Diego is currently seeking qualified developers and development teams to submit applications and proposals to receive financing through a collaboration of the City's Redevelopment Agency (comprised of the City’s Redevelopment Division in the Community and Economic Development Department, the Centre City Development Corporation, and the Southeastern Economic Development Corporation) and the San Diego Housing Commission. 

Lillian Place will offer one-, two- and three-bedroom units and is designed for families with children.  The 75,646 square-foot project footprint will be built on a 36,000 square-foot site and will also include a learning center/computer room, tot lot, open space garden area,  and 75 underground parking spaces.  Lillian Place will include three- and four-story buildings, and the project’s developer will rehabilitate and incorporate a two-story historic structure, which ensures the preservation of a piece of San Diego’s African-American history.

“This funding marks an important step in the City’s commitment to address the affordable housing crisis in San Diego,” said Hank Cunningham, director of the City of San Diego’s Community and Economic Development Department and the assistant executive director of the City of San Diego Redevelopment Agency.   “The Redevelopment Affordable Housing Program has been very successful in providing incentives to developers to step up to the plate with proposals like Lillian Place.  This City ‘Collaborative’ will continue to do what it can to assist and promote the development of affordable housing opportunities throughout the City of San Diego.”

The development, designed by Studio E Architects, will be built by Wakeland Housing and Development Corporation and overseen by the Centre City Development Corporation (CCDC), as the project is within CCDC’s redevelopment project area boundaries. Lillian Place will offer rents for those earning from 30% -110% of area median income.  Proposed pricing for the units will be $329-1,155 per month for one bedroom units, $393-$1,383 for two bedroom units and $450-$1595 for three bedroom units. 

“Lillian Place is a beautifully designed complex that will provide much needed affordable housing for families living downtown,” said Ken Sauder, executive director of Wakeland Housing and Development Corporation.  “Wakeland is honored to be the first developer to receive final Redevelopment Agency approvals for funding from the Redevelopment Affordable Housing Program.”

The project is named after Ms. Lillian Grant, a prominent African-American businesswoman and property owner in the area.  Her former property has been deemed historically significant by the Historical Resources Board and will be commemorated within the project.

“We’re proud to be a financial partner in this project that will provide more affordable housing for families with children in downtown,” said Peter Hall, CCDC President.  “The project helps to revitalize a blighted area while preserving and commemorating some significant African-American history.”

The goal of the City’s Redevelopment Affordable Housing Program is to increase the City’s affordable housing inventory for very low- and low-income households, to assist people with moderate-income levels achieve homeownership and, on a case-by-case basis, to acquire andrehabilitate existing properties.  Proposals may be for residential or mixed-use developments; housing that is all low-income or is mixed-income; multi- or single-family dwelling units or a combination thereof; and rental or for-sale units.  Completed units could be available as early as 2005.

In addition to Lillian Place, there are five completed applications for redevelopment subsidies in the review process, representing 504 new affordable housing units.  These five projects are located in City Heights, Banker’s Hill, Barrio Logan, Downtown and Southeastern San Diego.  If approved, these projects could receive redevelopment subsidies of more than $16 million combined.

For more information on these and other affordable housing and redevelopment projects planned and underway, contact the Community and Economic Development Department at (619) 533-4233 or email AffordableHousingNOFA@sandiego.gov. Additional affordable housing information is available on the City’s web site at www.sandiego.gov (type “affordable housing” in the search field).

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The City of San Diego Redevelopment Agency eliminates blight from designated areas, as well as achieves the goals of development, reconstruction and rehabilitation of residential, commercial, industrial, and retail districts.  Redevelopment is one of the most effective ways to breathe new life into deteriorated areas plagued by social, physical, environmental or economic conditions that act as a barrier to new investment by private enterprise.  The City of San Diego Redevelopment Agency consists of three divisions: the City Redevelopment Division (which provides overall agency management and is housed in the City of San Diego Communityand Economic Development Department), the Centre City Development Corporation and the Southeastern Economic Development Corporation.