Project incorporates senior, low-income housing in West
Hollister
After more than eight years of planning, Westside Apartments, a
low-income rental project in the West Gateway district, will go
before Hollister’s planning commission May 21.
Project incorporates senior, low-income housing in West Hollister
After more than eight years of planning, Westside Apartments, a low-income rental project in the West Gateway district, will go before Hollister’s planning commission May 21.
Local residents David and Ravena Huboi, of Huboi Architecture, designed the complex.
“I think the mission statement here is to provide attractive, affordable design,” David said.
Currently the site of billboards and a trailer park, the project area is zoned for high density.
The 32-unit complex will include 10 apartments for low-income seniors. Every senior apartment will be handicapped accessible.
“A lot of the units in the low income are three or four bedrooms for larger families,” Ravena said.
There is a need for more low-income rental units in Hollister, said Brian Abbott, executive director of Community Services Development Corporation (CSDC), a local nonprofit that is developing the project.
“Essentially no new rental units have been built for low-income residents since the mid-1980s,” Abbott said.
There is a fair amount of market-rate housing, but it can be difficult for low-income residents to afford, Abbott said.
“They may be spending, 40, 50, 60 percent of their income for rent, whereas a project like ours may only charge 30 percent of their income,” Abbott said.
The location of Westside Apartments is in close proximity to a health clinic, restaurants and shopping.
“The idea is to get the residences near the services and the stores,” David said, “so that people can get away from cars and needing two parking spots.”
The complex will include lawns and play areas. Local landscape architect Anita Cain designed the landscape.
To encourage a community feel, the complex will have a series of interconnected pathways that connect the buildings to each other and the surrounding neighborhood.
This has to be a nice looking building because of its central location,” David said. “The planning department has been very sensitive about how this building looks.”
That was the reason for the southwestern style, Ravena said. Details for a Victorian design, such as gingerbread, would have been prohibitively expensive.
Architectural interest is created by using simple, colored shapes.
City staff wanted a project that would benefit the city, said Abraham Prado, Hollister’s assistant planner.
“It’s an interesting project,” Prado said. “We wanted to make sure that it did provide a design of the building that complements the surrounding neighborhoods.”
The senior apartment building will be one of the few four-story buildings in Hollister.
To make it seem less imposing, the design incorporates a series of setbacks in the upper levels.
The project fits well with the vision for the West Gateway in Hollister’s general plan.
A group of property owners in the West Gateway are working on a vision plan for the district that includes a pedestrian friendly core, a plaza and high density residential housing.
Fernando Gonzalez is the owner of nearby True Value hardware and is a member of the Board of directors for CSDC.
“This is probably the first project that is going to happen that fits in the whole plan for the West Gate,” Gonzalez said. “I think it is going to set a standard for the type of development that is going to be needed out here.
Despite the sewer moratorium, construction can begin when the project is through the planning process, David said.
Builders will replace the plumbing units from Palm Court, David said. The project will also use transfer units from trailers that were removed from Rustic Street.
“I’m hoping that we could break ground on the project sometime early in 2009,” Abbott said.
They have not estimated the build out schedule.
The planned project is located on two parcels.
The city of Hollister owns one parcel and the redevelopment agency (RDA) owns the other, Abbott said.
The RDA will give their parcel to the Community Services Development Corporation, Abbott said.
“This is going to remove blight,” David said. “That is why the RDA is getting involved.”
