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Floor Plans: College Vista Leaves No College Faculty or Staff Behind
Developer:
Education Housing Partners
Architect:
KTGY Group
College Vista, with its sweeping views of San Francisco Bay and the surrounding hills, provides affordable housing for the faculty and staff of the College of San Mateo in an area dominated by prohibitively high housing costs.
Developed as workforce housing by Mill Valley, Calif.-based Education Housing Partners, the 44-unit rental community built on the community college’s campus offers one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, all with attached balconies or patios.
Each apartment features a large kitchen with upgraded cabinetry, a walk-in closet in the master bedroom, nine-foot ceilings and a laundry room. In addition, 39 apartments have attached garages. College Vista was named the 2008 Multifamily Pillars of the Industry award winner in the Best Affordable Apartment Community category.
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College Vista on the College of San Mateo campus features apartment rents that the teachers and staff at the community college can afford. | More importantly, the apartments are renting at below market rate for the area. Four of the 44 apartments are income-restricted to 80% of the area’s median income ― part of the city of San Mateo’s below market rate program. And the remaining 40 apartments rent for less than half of the current market rate for similar quality apartments in the area.
Rents from the apartments are sufficient to pay all construction costs, financing, operations and long-term maintenance. All project costs were financed. No public tax dollars were used to pay for or operate the community.
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Architectural details helped overcome neighborhood opposition. | Meeting a Critical Need
San Mateo County Community College District trustees began looking into a project in 2002 because the district was having difficulty recruiting faculty and staff because of high area housing costs. In additon, those who did accept jobs at the college didn’t stay long. The faculty turnover rate before College Vista was 10% to 11% a year, said Barbara Christensen, the College Vista director of community and government relations.
Since the district could not afford to increase salaries, it began offering low-cost second mortgages of up to $75,000 to help teachers buy homes. But the mortgage assistance program proved to be insufficient because many teachers, especially younger ones still paying off their student loans, could not save the 3% downpayment required by the loan program.
Education Housing Partners, of Thompson Dorfman Partners LLC, filled the void by building College Vista, the second workforce housing community the company developed for a public school district.
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Each apartment has a separate deck or patio. | Overcoming Neighborhood Opposition
Designed by Irvine, Calif.-based KTGY Group, College Vista features two craftsman-style buildings accented with green roofs and dark brown stucco and lap siding designed to blend with the natural landscape surrounding the highly visible site.
College Vista's site planning and architecture required particular sensitivity to its immediate surroundings — deeded open space and an established luxury single-family home subdivision — because of vocal opposition from several neighborhood groups.
To convince the opposition of the merits of the new community, the principals of Education Housing Partners initiated an extensive outreach campaign to engage the community and understand its issues ― primarily the introduction of affordable housing in their "backyards" and the anticipated visual and economic impact they thought the would have on their neighborhood.
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Each apartment features lots of windows and high ceilings. |
Once the issues were identified and addressed to the neighbors' satisfaction, the surrounding community gave its support to the project. And because of this support, San Mateo quickly approved it.
Opened in 2005, today faculty members like Brandon Smith, who teaches English as a second language, can walk to work and class in 10 minutes.
But College Vista is not just for teachers at the community college. It is also home to elementary school teachers like Stacy Corsiglia and to teachers and coaches at other nearby community colleges.
College Vista has been fully occupied since the project was completed and more than 90 faculty and staff are on its waiting list.
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All the apartments rent for less than half the current market rate for similar apartments. |
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Ninety faculty and staff are on the the waiting list to rent at College Vista, which was fully occupied when the project was completed. |
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The apartments, much like the communities that surround them, sit on a hillside overlooking San Francisco Bay. |
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Click for larger image. |
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Features and Specifications |
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Apartment Features
- Gourmet kitchens with upgraded cabinetry
- 9-foot ceilings
- Wood entry floors
- Large windows and sliding glass doors
- Private decks or patios
- Walk-in closets in master bedrooms
- Two bathrooms in the three-bedroom apartments
- Separate laundry rooms
Community Features
- One-, two- and three-bedroom apartments
- 44 apartments in two buildings
- Four apartments are income-restricted to 80% of area median income
- 40 apartments renting for less than 50% of current market rates for similar apartments
- On the College of San Mateo campus and within a 10-minute walk to most classes
- Private garages for most apartments
Developed by Education Housing Partners, Mill Valley, Calif.
Designed by KTGY Group, Irvine, Calif. |
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