Affordable Housing Development Breaks Ground Near Levi’s Stadium
The Bay Area will be receiving some sorely needed affordable housing as USA Properties Fund began construction on a 151-unit apartment complex near Levi’s Stadium, the home of the San Francisco 49ers, the developer said in a Wednesday press release.
Mainline North, a few blocks away from the stadium, is an $81M project led by USA Properties Fund and Pinyon Investments with additional investments from the city of Santa Clara and private companies such as Google.
Project proponents say they intend to expand affordable housing for a region plagued by persistently high rents.
“Mainline North is an excellent example of what can be accomplished when private and public partners come together with a mission to address the housing needs of a neighborhood, a city and a region,” Geoff Brown, president of USA Properties Fund, said in a release.
Santa Clara and its immediate neighbor San Jose consistently rank in the top 99% of the most expensive places to rent in the United States, with a two-bedroom apartment costing an average of $2,900 per month in the region, according to RentData.org.
Mainline North would set aside a portion of the available rooms for renters who make 30% of the area's median income, or $35,440 a year, according to the release. Two-bedroom apartments would begin at $1,080 per month, and studios at $850.
“Santa Clara is working to increase affordable housing opportunities across the city, especially near transit,” Santa Clara Mayor Lisa Gillmor said.
Gillmor said Mainline North is an important component of the Tasman East Specific Plan, a framework adopted in 2018 to refurbish the neighborhood immediately adjacent to the 49ers’ stadium. The city envisions a mixed-use neighborhood with green space and a shopping district as it seeks to build more housing to comply with state regulations that require cities to update their housing plans.
Housing advocates say more construction is necessary to increase supply to meet demand and bring prices down in the Bay Area.
“At the core of California’s affordable housing crisis is a failure to build enough housing to meet demand,” California for Homeownership said in a lawsuit against Santa Clara County filed in February.
Mainline North will help the city meet its goals of increased housing stock and affordable options for low-income residents, according to the California Housing Finance Agency, which helped provide financing for the project.
“Building affordable housing in a high-cost area like Santa Clara truly takes a village, especially in this challenging financial climate,” said Tiena Johnson Hall, executive director of the California Housing Finance Agency. “I am proud CalHFA is part of the village and that the financing from our Mixed-Income Program can help create housing opportunities at Mainline North for 151 deserving families in this community.”
The building, which also features 5K SF of commercial space on the first floor, is slated for completion in 2025. The property is in the 2300 block of Calle del Mundo, near Tasman Drive and Lafayette Street.
Bank of America, Housing Trust Silicon Valley, Ensemble Real Estate Investments and Related are also part of the public-private partnership.
