Arroyo Green at 707 Bradford St. saw a groundbreaking Tuesday. It includes 117 very-low-income units for seniors and an 8,000-square-foot child care facility.
Matt Franklin, MidPen Housing’s president and CEO, addresses the crowd Tuesday at 707 Bradford St. in Redwood City to celebrate the groundbreaking of an affordable apartment building for seniors that will be constructed on the site.
Zachary Clark/Daily Journal
Arroyo Green at 707 Bradford St. saw a groundbreaking Tuesday. It includes 117 very-low-income units for seniors and an 8,000-square-foot child care facility.
Officials gathered Tuesday morning at 707 Bradford St. in downtown Redwood City to celebrate the groundbreaking of an affordable apartment building for seniors that also includes a child care facility.
Designed by nonprofit developer MidPen Housing on city-owned land, the project known as Arroyo Green includes 117 very-low-income units — 26 of which will be reserved for formerly homeless veterans and seniors with special needs. It also has a creekside trail open to the public and the child care component spans 8,000 square feet. Residents are expected to move into the seven-story building by spring 2021.
The units include a mix of studios, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units to be rented between $700 and $1,500 a month.
“What the city and county know is the tremendous need for this type of housing and [seniors] are our biggest growing demographic statewide and here in the county,” said MidPen’s president and CEO Matt Franklin, adding that one of five seniors in California currently lives in poverty.
“The site is unrivaled as far as its access to health care, to important neighborhood amenities and to transportation,” he continued. “When you take a valuable piece of land like this right in the middle of the downtown precise plan, right in the middle of all the great things happening here in downtown and you put out a call to create high-quality homes for low-income seniors and child care spots for the neighborhood, it’s a the best expression of your values as a city and it speaks volumes.”
Mayor Ian Bain said the development has been in the works for 15 years.
“It took vision, it took leadership, it took perseverance, creativity and a lot of people — it took a village to get us to where we are today,” he said. “Redwood City has a long tradition of using public land to build affordable housing and MidPen has an excellent tradition of building high-quality affordable units, particularly for our seniors, which are much needed. … This is a long-held dream of the City Council and Arroyo Green is going to be the fulfillment of that dream.”
Recommended for you
Arroyo Green’s on-site amenities include an open-air rooftop courtyard with community gardening planters, barbecue and seating, and indoors there will be a community room, computer lab, game room, library and fitness room.
Run by nonprofit Footsteps, the ground-level child care space can accommodate 70 children and includes an outdoor playground.
“I love the fact that we’re going to have seniors in this program and little children because together they’re going to make a magical situation,” said Footsteps Executive Director Karen Haas-Foletta. “We’re gong to try to see what seniors — we won’t force them — are interested in helping out working with children in a meaningful way and they’re going to come down to our program and hopefully we’re going to go up to their programs and make it one big community.”
Seven funding sources, including Redwood City, San Mateo County and Union Bank, made the development a reality.
If a nonprofit developer like MidPen Housing can make affordable development a reality with the help of some funding sources, why can’t the local tech plutocrats contribute to nonprofit developers and make a serious attempt to address the housing crisis (much of it created by them) on the Peninsula?
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO
personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who
make comments. Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. Don't threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Anyone violating these rules will be issued a
warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be
revoked.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
(2) comments
If a nonprofit developer like MidPen Housing can make affordable development a reality with the help of some funding sources, why can’t the local tech plutocrats contribute to nonprofit developers and make a serious attempt to address the housing crisis (much of it created by them) on the Peninsula?
Good question! Me thinks it has something to do with ROI requirements of the City/County versus what tech is willing to invest in affordable housing.
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.