San Rafael approves lease change at housing complex
The San Rafael City Council has approved an ordinance allowing a new ground lease for the Centertown affordable housing complex.
The 99-year lease update is the latest procedural step to allow Bridge Housing Corp., the nonprofit that runs the 60-apartment site at 855 C St., to refinance and make upgrades at the complex.
The council unanimously approved the lease ordinance at its meeting on Monday. The second reading to pass the ordinance is scheduled for Sept. 20.
Under the new lease, Centertown will give the city a one-time rent payment of $83,000 plus $1 a year. It will also pay a $5,000 annual monitoring fee with 3% annual escalators.
The complex is a four-story building constructed in 1992 on a 1-acre, city-owned lot with parking and landscaped common spaces. It has 17 one-bedroom apartments, 28 two-bedroom apartments and 15 three-bedroom apartments. The apartments are intended to be affordable to households in the low-income and extremely-low-income brackets.
Bridge Housing Corp., a nonprofit, is planning a $10 million overhaul at the site. The nonprofit applied to the California Municipal Finance Authority to issue bonds for the project.
The company plans fixes for water intrusion, interior and exterior modifications and upgrades to siding, roof, paint, windows, doors and landscaping. The project also aims to add an outdoor terrace space with a game area and multipurpose recreation court.
The bonds also will help the nonprofit establish reserves for future maintenance, according to a city staff report.
The project is set to begin on Oct. 22.
The accessibility upgrades at six apartments will require temporarily relocating households for four to eight weeks weeks while the residences undergo interior rehabilitation, Danielle O’Leary, the city’s economic development director, said in a report to the City Council. The complex will retain a relocation consultant to accommodate tenants at no cost to them.
At the council meeting on Monday, Vice Mayor Maribeth Bushey asked what would happen if the project does not come to fruition.
David Rosenthal, a lawyer for the complex, said, “The way the lease is set up, the likelihood of the city actually getting to terminate the ground use, if something were to hit the fan, is pretty low because the lenders need the lease in effect.”
The project was approved by the city’s zoning administrator last summer.