Century Affordable Development, Inc. Awarded $7.8 Million Grant

We are proud to announce the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) has awarded a $7,803,750 grant to Century Affordable Development, Inc. (CADI) through its Capital Magnet Fund. CADI is one of 52 organizations receiving $321.2 million via the Capital Magnet Fund. The award will help CADI pursue its important work creating and preserving affordable housing for low-income individuals, families, and communities. We are grateful to the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s CDFI Fund for its tremendous support!

Read the full announcement

The Banning: 64 Permanent Supportive Homes Under Development

Century is super proud, and relieved, to announce that we completed our 180 day sprint and closed on construction and partnership financing for The Banning, Century’s latest permanent supportive housing community. Comprised of 64 apartment homes, The Banning will deliver hope to 64 households experiencing homelessness in Wilmington. This will be Century’s first PSH community outside Century Villages at Cabrilllo to be served by Century property management and residential services.

Today’s milestone was the result of a 4+ year journey from that fateful winter day in 2018 when we executed our purchase and sale agreement. Nine PSA amendments later, we finally closed on the dirt in October 2020 following an elaborate diligence effort to understand some of the site’s complexities. From there we began assembling our capital stack including commitments of HHH financing from the City of LA, NPLH financing from the County of Los Angeles, AHP financing, and lastly an allocation of credits and bonds from CDLAC/TCAC in December 2021.

Each of these closings feels like a miracle and we have some spectacular miracle workers amongst us, especially Gil who ran point on the closing (and lost some hair while he was at it). He was supported by a spectacular crew including Oscar, our intern Brian R., Heather, Howard, Andrea, Cindy, Brett, Kim, Steve and so many more across the Century family. And how could we forget Paige who got the party started back in 2018 and seamlessly handed the baton to Gil several years later!

Congratulations to the whole Century team for achieving this watershed moment. While we’ve closed on our financing our eyes and hearts remain open to what this is all about: creating opportunities for a better, more healthy and hopeful life for our future residents.

The Cove Adds 90 Veteran Homes to Century Villages at Cabrillo

Century is extremely proud to announce we just closed on our construction and partnership financing for The Cove! This $46.6 million development will provide 90 supportive homes to Veterans, including many that are experiencing homelessness.  The multiple layers of public and private financing have been secured and multiple layers of land and title matters, including easements, regulatory agreements, CC&Rs, reciprocal agreements, financial liens, and an active subdivision process have been settled.

All of this came together “under the gun” as a 9% tax credit deal with a hard readiness closing deadline and an outside placed-in-service obligation that forced us to start construction ahead of the closing, including resident relocation, building demolition, the installation of 750 stone columns in the earth, and extensive utility relocation work. Congratulations to Chris, Kyle, Oscar and all of the various individuals and teams that supported this closing including CVPM, Oasis, Asset Management, Century lending, legal, our finance/accounting team, Century’s lending team.

The Cove is an integral part of The Century Villages at Cabrillo’s Community Plan. It will be sited in the heart of The Villages, along Williams Street, and it will occupy a portion of Long Beach Savannah Housing, an SRO development that is comprised of 196 congregate style units spread out across 16 buildings. Stay tuned for updates as we near the projected October 2023 opening.

2021 Q4 Highlights | Plaza de Cabrillo Rehabilitation

Rehab work at CVC’s Plaza de Cabrillo, built in 2004, was completed in late 2021. All 204 units were improved, along with major building systems that will decrease maintenance costs significantly into the future. Veterans with disabilities can now be placed in one of 13 ADA-compliant units, and all residents will enjoy new and updated kitchens, community spaces and external beautification and landscaping. Wells Fargo provided the tax credit equity and construction financing. In addition, we are grateful to the Home Depot Foundation and the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco for their critical investments.

The Pathways to Health Fall Festival offered in-person and virtual health activities and workshops that ran all day long at the end of October. To wrap up the year, the Winter Fest included real snow and holiday giveaways for the children at the Villages. Both seasonal festivals brought Veterans and families together for recreation and connection.

As the Villages continues to prioritize improved safety across the community, the Annual Great Shakeout in October made for a perfect opportunity to remind everyone how to prepare for natural disasters. The Villages participated in the Great Shakeout event with a very successful and socially distant community-wide emergency radio drill, and staff had the opportunity to practice the evacuation plan as well.

Century recently acquired our first NOAH asset, Ackerfield Apartments, a 55-unit family apartment complex in North Long Beach.

At the end of 2021, One San Pedro (OSP) submitted a 501(c)3 application to file for non-profit status, positioning OSP to work towards the implementation of the Transformational Plan while supporting our partner organizations.

Rehab work at Woodbridge, a community for large families providing 47 units of affordable housing for households earning below 60% of Average Median Income, was completed in fall 2021. Improvements included new kitchens and baths to the residential the units, accessibility improvements, and new landscape and paint. Woodbridge is comprised of two buildings, one in Downtown Long Beach and one in North Long Beach.

The West LA Veterans Collective is now on social media! Follow and get the latest updates on their Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn accounts.

Century Celebrates The Beacon

Century Housing, in partnership with the City of Long Beach and The Long Beach Community Investment Company, invited the public to celebrate the completion of The Beacon last week with a virtual event featuring a video presentation acknowledging the many partners and agencies that made the development a success. Home to more than 200 veterans and seniors, many who have experienced homelessness, The Beacon is a landmark symbol of hope at the gateway to Downtown Long Beach.

“This place has been a godsend,” said Kevin Snow, a resident of The Beacon who has experienced 14 years of homelessness. “I’m off the street, I have security…it’s quiet, it’s clean.”

“There’s no denying that this past year has been a very difficult and painful year on many, many levels,” said Century Housing Senior Vice President Brian D’Andrea. “This development represents a source of light and hope for all of us, including the more than 200 residents who now call The Beacon home along with the larger Long Beach community. This is an asset that we can all be proud of.”

The virtual grand opening featured celebratory remarks from LA County Supervisor Janice Hahn, Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia, Long Beach Councilmember Mary Zendejas, and all of the many partners and collaborators who brought The Beacon to life.

“We are committed to continuing the investment of our resources in developments like The Beacon that fill the vital need for additional affordable housing in the city,” said Patrice Wong, Chair of The Long Beach Community Investment Company, which approved more than $12 million in funding for the project in 2017. “This is a valuable and beautiful project that enhances the strong network of neighborhoods that sustain and promote a thriving Long Beach.”

The Beacon is a transit-oriented development that includes 160 affordable and supportive homes. Located across from the Metro Blue Line light rail and bus lines that operate along both Long Beach Boulevard and East Anaheim Street, residents have immediate connections to vital services and workplaces in Long Beach and beyond.

“The Beacon is a critical project in Long Beach to serve both formerly homeless veterans and formerly homeless seniors, as well as low-income seniors,” said Century Housing Vice President of Housing Oscar Alvarado. “We have a housing crisis, and we have a homelessness crisis … this is really just a quintessential site for an affordable housing development in a dense community.”

Celebrate with us on The Beacon Virtual Grand Opening page

See the Long Beach Post story

The Beacon Honored with SCANPH’s Award for Overall Excellence

We are proud to share that our Long Beach development, The Beacon, was awarded Multi-Family Development of the Year by SCANPH at the Annual Conference’s Homes Within Reach Awards Ceremony. The award recognizes excellence in affordable housing among projects completed in the last year. Selections are submitted by SCANPH members and chosen by an independent jury of professionals from throughout SCANPH’s regional footprint.

The Beacon, home to veterans, formerly homeless people, and very-low-income seniors, is centrally located directly across from a Metro Blue Line stop and two high-frequency bus lines and serves as a physical gateway to Downtown Long Beach. Opened in 2019, The Beacon features a new bus shelter and approach, community rooms, barbecue areas, and computer rooms, with wrap around social services provided through Mental Health America. Beacon is a mixed-use project with 6,200 square feet of retail along Long Beach Boulevard.

“Century is extremely proud of our Beacon Project providing 160 beautiful and much needed affordable homes to veterans and vulnerable seniors,” said Brian D’Andrea, Senior Vice President of Century. “Beyond homes, The Beacon will provide residents with supportive services and connectivity to job and service centers via the Metro light rail and local bus lines. We thank all our partners for making Beacon possible, especially Wells Fargo, KPRS and The Architects Collective. We are most thankful to the City of Long Beach for its financial and overall support through its amazing Development Services and Housing Authority teams.”

Century Wins LABBC 2020 Innovation Award!

We are proud to announce that Los Angeles Better Building Challenge has honored Century Housing with the 2020 Innovation Award: Affordable Multifamily Performance Project of the Year for the efficiency standards reached at two Century-developed affordable communities: Florence Avenue Villas and Morehouse. Century’s rehabilitation work resulted in a 54% energy reduction at Florence, and 40% energy reduction at Morehouse.

Oscar Alvarado, Century’s Vice President of Development, said, “We strive to exceed the state’s Title 24 Efficiency Standards and by developing sustainable communities that reduce electricity, gas and water consumption we’re doing our part to reduce our environmental footprint for our residents and their children.”

Learn more about the strategies utilized to plan and finance the upgrades, which will improve living conditions for low-income residents, at the LABBC case study page.

Major Milestone: One San Pedro Transformation Plan

After more than 18-months of collaborative work between Century and its partners, the final One San Pedro Transformation Plan for Rancho San Pedro has been completed and submitted to HUD. This plan represents the culmination of a massive effort that consisted of extensive hands-on community outreach, thoughtful planning and design work, due diligence and assessment activities, and the laying of a foundation for a collective impact effort to transform the lives of residents.

This milestone document will evolve into an entitlement action, namely a specific plan, and related environmental analysis.  Ultimately, those clearances will give way to future development activity that contemplates upwards of 1,400 homes, parks and open space, commercial and supportive service space, among many other community benefits.  More information about One San Pedro can be found at www.onesanpedro.org.

We are proud of Century’s role in this effort but our vision could not be implemented without the dedication of our partners. These include the residents of Rancho San Pedro, HACLA, EJP Consulting, The Richman Group, National CORE, and City Fabrick. Let us continue doing our best to transform Downtown San Pedro into a connected, thriving community!

View the One San Pedro Transformation Plan

Learn more at www.onesanpedro.org

AECD Program’s Newest Graduate

 

Oscar Alvarado, Century’s VP of Development, recently completed NeighborWorks’ Achieving Excellence in Community Development (AECD) Leadership Program. The highly selective, rigorous 18-month program was taught by faculty at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

Oscar was selected to participate along with a cohort of 45 professionals in the community development field based on working on a specific challenge. His performance challenge for Achieving Excellence was to develop the beginnings of a business model that will allow Century to export successful development, property management, resident services and community engagement practices, based on our core values, from a single controlled environment at CVC to all existing and future Century apartment communities.

The program required a tremendous investment of Oscar’s time and energy, and is yielding great results as Century pivots to becoming a more integrated permanent supportive housing and affordable housing provider. Congrats Oscar!

We Love Our Farm Stand Volunteers!

Twenty seven acres of vibrant greenery abound in The Villages at Cabrillo, where nearly 1,500 neighbors reside in what is commonly referred to as a “food desert.” The nearest grocery store is a lengthy walk away, and access to transportation can be an obstacle for many in The Villages who may be struggling with a low income and experiencing food insecurity.

But what about all the green? There are small, but highly activated, community gardens at The Villages and 114 fruit trees thriving with plums, lemons, and even pomegranates! Sure, residents are welcome to pick what they like and enjoy, but the more convenient, one-stop-shop for low-cost, locally grown fruits and veggies is the weekly Farm Stand.

Powered by volunteers with a passion for improving access to high-quality, organic produce, the Century Villages at Cabrillo Farm Stand rolls out every Tuesday with a wide selection for residents to enjoy. Without the tireless commitment of the volunteers who visit The Villages every week to operate the Farm Stand, the CVC “food desert” would go without the high-quality produce that grows in its very own backyard!

Some produce grows on-site at The Villages and is picked by residents who are also volunteers, giving their time to care for the community gardens and share the fruits of their labor with their community. The rest of the Farm Stand collection comes from Long Beach gardens outside of The Villages and from donations of partner organizations.

The Farm Stand is one of many opportunities for volunteers who love to give back to their local community. And, it’s really fun!