As housing costs have skyrocketed here in the last two decades,
there hasn’t been a single apartment complex built in Hollister. As
a result, low-income families have been forced to either find
available homes or deal with squalor.
As housing costs have skyrocketed here in the last two decades, there hasn’t been a single apartment complex built in Hollister. As a result, low-income families have been forced to either find available homes or deal with squalor.
That tide could change with the expected 2009 construction of a 32-unit development catered to low-income and senior residents. With its recent design approval by the Hollister Planning Commission, the Westside Apartments project at Fourth Street and Westside Boulevard can move forward once Community Services Development Corp. obtains the remaining, necessary funds.
CSDC has been working on the project for about eight years with Huboi Architecture, which is handling the design. In more recent years, the state’s building moratorium has delayed this project like many others locally.
“It’s really rewarding to do that kind of project,” said architect Ravena Huboi, who noted how part of the draw was that she’d enjoyed previously working with CSDC in fixing up blighted areas here.
David Huboi, her partner, noted how about a quarter of Hollister’s population is in a very low-income bracket and that the limited housing stock for these residents has made it difficult to find a decent place to live.
He noted how the project partially funded by the Hollister Redevelopment Agency on 1.37 acres will include five buildings, one of them catered to seniors.
“My personal mission here involving the media, getting the message out, is that I want the community to know about the project,” Huboi said.
Huboi said they take pride in the project because it’s providing a much-needed resource. They’re also eager to pursue a “Build it Green” certification, one of the first in Hollister, as an environmentally friendly project.
“My biggest excitement is to learn to do the green building,” Ravena Huboi said.
They already expect to save some costs on the project through its Southwestern building style, which she said resembles the old pueblos in using building envelopes to vary objects’ sizes in a way that “makes things pop out” in a sculptural effect.
It allows them to use flat roofs and less building material in contrast to the Victorian style with more expensive costs.
She also pointed out how all the units will include Americans with Disabilities Act standards with wheelchair accessibility and elevators.
CSDC will pursue the remaining funds needed to progress with the project, and the Hubois will head into the construction drawing phase, which should last about six months, she said.
Project organizers hope to start building in early 2009, yet the four-story senior building has to wait until 2010 when a billboard lease for that part of the site expires.
