PASADENA, CA - With its mix of eight renovated historic homes and 31 new town houses, Fair Oaks Court in Northwest Pasadena has brought national recognition as a model of innovative affordable housing to the city and the developer, Heritage Housing Partners. But for Melissa Griffin, her husband Brad and three little children, it's the home she never thought they could afford.
"It's fabulous," said Griffin, whose family moved into a four bedroom, three-story town house at the end of June. "We have lived in Pasadena for five years, renting and we wanted to make Pasadena our home," said Griffin, who moved with her husband from Kentucky. "It appealed to us, being able to live and work here, plus the variety of the community we found here." The Arts and Crafts-style project near Fair Oaks Avenue and Orange Grove Boulevard is the largest ever for the nonprofit Heritage Home Partnership, which was established 10 years ago as an offshoot of Pasadena Heritage.
Executive Director Charles Loveman said he is "thrilled and honored" by the recognition, and regards the project as a template for future projects. "This was a five-year effort by HHP - and getting recognition on top of that! I think we're getting good at this, and looking for more," he said.
Fair Oaks Court was chosen by Affordable Housing Finance magazine as the nation's Affordable Homeownership Project of the Year for 2008. It was also named by the Southern California Association of Non-Profit Housing as the Southland's Affordable Homeownership Project of the Year. With prices ranging from $108,500 for a low-income one-bedroom unit to $294,000 for a moderate-income four- bedroom unit, the project attracted hundreds of applicants in early 2007. The Griffin family was chosen from 90 qualified finalists out of 650 first-time buyers who requested applications, Loveman said.
Councilman Victor Gordo, who lives nearby, said the project should serve as a model for any future affordable-housing projects the city invests in. "I can't say enough about the quality of the workmanship, the design and the process that HHP undertook to develop the project," Gordo said. It wasn't always smooth sailing, he said, but some early neighborhood concerns about tenants being displaced, project density and the fate of the older homes on the site were addressed "directly and effectively."
Gordo said the development, which has underground parking and is built around connecting courtyards and play areas, "fit right in and is a tremendous improvement in the neighborhood." The city invested $4 million in the project, roughly $100,000 as a second mortgage per unit, to be repaid over a period of up to 30 years, Loveman said.
Building on the first phase is complete, with only two one- bedroom units, one two-bedroom/two-bath and a four-bedroom/three-bath remaining unsold, said Caroline Nelson, marketing associate for the housing partnership. Renovation work on the second phase, the eight vintage houses - one a duplex - arranged on the 2-acre site, is still under way. All have been purchased as work-force housing for faculty members in a deal with Fuller Theological Seminary, Loveman said.
The financial downturn has affected the project only slightly, mostly by slowing down the loan process, he said. "Everyone is hard-working, making a good income, they were just priced out of Pasadena," Loveman said. "For some, it's taken a little longer to close the loans. It's nothing to do with the buyers - they meet all the criteria - it's the lenders who are slow."
Source: sgvtribune.com