Rendering of the proposed Peninsula Station.

Plans for San Mateo’s newest affordable housing development almost got shelved when the economy turned south, but last-minute loans from San Mateo, the county and a regional housing trust were praised yesterday at a ground-breaking ceremony.

“This is one of only two projects [of its kind] in the state to move forward in this economy,” said Jan Lindenthal, vice president of real estate development at the Mid-Peninsula Housing Coalition.

Lindenthal was among the eight people who spoke at yesterday’s official groundbreaking ceremony although construction crews have already dug the hole necessary for the underground parking garage and foundation. Expected to open in August 2010, Peninsula Station will offer 68 one-, two-, and three-bedroom rental apartments that will be affordable to families who earn 30 percent to 60 percent of annual median income. At the current AMI this is between $33,930 and $67,860.

“The people who can’t afford two or three cars won’t have to. They’ll have the [Hillsdale train] station right here,” said San Mateo Mayor Brandt Grotte.

San Mateo, the county and the Housing Endowment and Regional Trust all contributed last-minute bridge loans to help the project when state grants were delayed due to the economic crisis. Funding for the project is being offered by nine different organizations.

Mid-Peninsula Housing was one of the first applications for Proposition 1C funding a couple of years ago, said Margaret Schrand, senior vice president of Wells Fargo Bank, which helped finance the project.

That could be a potential home for a senior San Mateo resident who recently walked into U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier’s, D-San Mateo, district office crying about her foreclosed home, said Speier’s senior advisor Brian Perkins.

“Out of that hole will spring hope,” Perkins said, referring to the construction site.

Others pointed to the building’s location as a great example of transit-oriented development. It is next door to Borders book store, across the street from Hillsdale Shopping Center, adjacent to the train station and across the tracks from the future Bay Meadows redevelopment.

Dana Yates can be reached by e-mail: dana@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 106.