Luxury apartments rising at Texas Street and Howard

Broadstone North Park, a project of Alliance Residential Company, continues its rapid construction progress at the northeast corner of Texas Street and Howard Avenue, extending to Arizona Street. Its actual address is 4220 Arizona Street, the same as the demolished eyesore-structure that was there. Upon completion it will be a market-rate, multi-family housing complex.

The property was originally owned by Community HousingWorks which is also developing the North Park Senior Apartments across Texas Street on the northwest corner. The two projects were approved by the San Diego City Council on 1/26/2015. Community HousingWorks had planned to develop the market-rate apartments, where a former, vandalized AT&T building was located.

Community HousingWorks originally paid $5.15 million for both lots. These developers ended up selling the larger lot to WCOT/Broadstone North Park, LLC for $7,113,333, earning a nice profit.

Infill development has come to North Park rapidly, but it seems to be a mixed bag. It often gets rid of blighted properties, while bringing in new residential units. But leasing rates are climbing.

Jeff Graham, former president of Civic San Diego, and currently executive director of real estate at UCSD, offered some insight. “I don’t believe that a few new ‘higher price point’ residential projects in North Park is necessarily bad for the community,” said Graham. “The majority of housing stock in North Park is older in nature, and some (certainly not all) is relatively affordable compared to other urban neighborhoods of San Diego.”

Graham brought up another factor on reducing the cost of new apartments: parking. “Most San Diego workers still need cars for their commutes,” Graham said. “Until that situation changes, developers will construct at lease one parking stall per unit (or even per bedroom) in order to rent or sell the units. A below-grade parking stall can add more than $200 per month to the rent of an apartment. Perhaps this challenge will change as more people purge their cars for Uber/Lyft, mopeds, and future autonomous transport vehicles.”

Steve Aldana, community development coordinator at the El Cajon Boulevard Business Improvement Association, said: “The El Cajon Boulevard BIA supports this type of infill housing in the district. It means more customers for our businesses and increased vitality in the area. As these new residents move into the area, we will step up efforts with Mayor Faulconer, Councilmember Ward, and Vision Zero to improve pedestrian safety along the corridor."

I was unable to obtain likely rent rates from Alliance Residential, but the company’s Broadstone Balboa Park at 3288 Fifth Avenue has studios available from $2,175 to $2,743. Broadstone Little Italy at 1980 Kettner Boulevard has studios starting at $2,666. A one-bedroom starts at $3,372, and two bedrooms are $4,295 and up. But these are not necessarily comparable to North Park rates.

According to the architectural firm, Joseph Wong Design Associates, the five-story structure will contain 118 rental units, ranging from studio to two-bedroom. Each unit will have a private exterior balcony. “Tenant amenities include pool and spa deck, resident lounge, creative lounge/work room, fitness center, community garden, and roof-top terrace. Extensive landscaping is provided at grade levels in addition to the pool deck, community garden, and roof-top terrace planting areas.”