Los Robles Grand Re-Opening in Union City

EAH Housing complex Los Robles re-opened in 2014 after extensive upgrades.

Key government and financial sector officials are part of the Los Robles Re-Opening event in Union City, following a major rehabilitation completed by nonprofit affordable housing developer EAH Housing. The 140-unit, GreenPoint Rated affordable rental community received numerous energy- and water-efficiency upgrades, including the installation of a new photovoltaic (PV) system. Los Robles is located at 32300 Almaden Boulevard.

“Los Robles is the type of community our city needs. It provides affordable housing opportunities for families, seniors and people with disabilities. We’re thankful for the work EAH Housing has completed and their dedication to pairing housing with quality resource coordination services to further improve lives,” Union City Mayor Carol Dutra-Vernaci said. Other key speakers include Field Representative Aref Aziz from the Office of Senator Ellen Corbett; Phil Abraham, District Representative for Assemblymember Bill Quirk and Jake Brymner, Constituent Services Manager from the Office of Rep. Eric Swalwell.

Los Robles features two-, three-, four- and five-bedroom apartments, and rents range from $959 to $1,304 depending on household income and apartment size. New additions to apartments include many of the following: Energy Star appliances and lights, dual-pane windows, high-efficiency hot water heaters and additional insulation in buildings. Additional upgrades to the community include a new barbeque area, dog park, updated play areas, expanded computer lab, and a remodel of seven units to make them fully accessible.

“Renovation of the community and apartments focused on improving residents’ comfort and reducing both the residents’ and the property’s utility costs,” said Mary Murtagh, president and CEO of EAH Housing. “Our goal for this renovation was to improve Los Robles and extend the life of the property, so that residents can enjoy their apartments at their best.”

The newly installed PV system is designed to offset 75 to 80 percent of the energy use in the common areas. As a result of the energy and sustainability improvements, Build It Green certified Los Robles as a GreenPoint Rated property.

Rehabilitation of Los Robles would not have been possible without funding from Tax Exempt Private Activity Bonds and Low Income Housing Tax Credits, with U.S. Bank as the lender, and Hudson Housing Capital as the equity investor.  The seller carried back a loan to facilitate the acquisition of the property. A grant from Stopwaste.org provided funding for Los Robles to obtain GreenPoint Rated certification.

“U.S. Bank is proud to continue our successful partnership with EAH Housing, known for their enduring commitment to the development, management and advocacy of affordable housing,” said John Chan, senior VP of U.S. Bank. “We’re proud to invest in opportunities that improve lives and enrich the surrounding community.”

EAH Housing is committed to the long-term sustainability of affordable housing communities, and is a member of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Better Buildings Challenge. The program is designed to enhance collaboration and problem solving on energy efficiency advancements in residential, commercial and industrial buildings.

“We’re interested in creating eco-friendly communities. More than half of the entire EAH Housing portfolio has been updated to make them more energy- and water-efficient. We’re always investigating how we can make a community greener,” Murtagh said.

EAH Housing also provides property management services for Los Robles. Like other EAH communities, Los Robles features resource coordination services. Residents have access to money management sessions, after school activities such as a homework club, computer learning classes and food programs.

Living Green at Crescent Park in Richmond

Crescent Park built by EAH housing has the nation's largest affordable housing solar installation.

CRESCENT PARK built in 1968 in Richmond, California has a total of 378 rental units in 24 residential buildings. The 25-acre complex also includes a resource center, maintenance building and several laundry facilities spread throughout the property. Its rooftops hold the nation’s largest affordable-housing solar installation, with approximately 900 kilowatts (kW) of capacity. The $8 million photovoltaic (PV) system is designed to provide 60 to 80 percent of the community’s electrical needs and is anticipated to replace the generation of roughly 14,000 tons of CO2 emissions over its lifetime.

By the close of this year, Crescent Park will achieve almost 20 percent of the city of Richmond’s goal of 5 megawatts (MW) of power from solar energy by 2010. (Richmond is expected to achieve that goal this November — much earlier than anticipated.) EAH Housing, a nonprofit affordable housing company, has owned and managed the property since 1994. In 2005, EAH began planning for an energy retrofit that would include improved insulation, upgrades to windows, new appliances (including furnaces and water heaters), new roofs, new interior flooring and light fixtures outfitted with compact fluorescent lamps.

At the start of the project, EAH Housing asked the design team to reduce electrical operating costs by using solar energy. Okamoto Saijo Architecture retained High Sun Engineering to conduct a feasibility analysis and prepare the design, which was customized to Crescent Park’s existing buildings Crescent Park posed some unique design challenges. Twelve of the apartment buildings are designed with a crescent shape — hence the name — with 14 townhouse units arranged around courtyards forming an open circle. This means that the roof of each unit has a different orientation relative to the sun. In assessing the power potential, the design team had to take a separate solar reading for each of the units. Other challenges included tree shading, structural limitations of the existing buildings, existing electrical service equipment and interconnection with Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) for such a large cumulative system. In the end, the team decided to connect each building’s PV system to the existing electrical service equipment via a line-side tap. This avoided the expense not only of installing new electrical service equipment, but also of associated upgrades to the entire utility infrastructure. Approval of this approach was closely vetted, with city building officials and PG&E as active participants.

The renovation, budgeted at approximately $50 million including a new multicultural family resource center and upgraded computer center, was phased over a 25-month period, during which the complex remained occupied.The contractor received three vacant buildings to renovate at a time, staggered one month apart, giving workers approximately 12 weeks

to renovate each building inside and out and install the PV system. EAH Housing and its partners worked closely with the Crescent Park Resident Council to relocate residents within the complex efficiently and comfortably. Buildings were

vacated on a scheduled and orderly basis with minimal disruption to residents’ lives.The financing of the project included a sale by its previous owner to an EAH Housing-controlled limited partnership which involved —

• Tax-exempt and taxable bonds issued by the city of Richmond and privately placed with Union Bank of California ;

• Four percent tax credit-based equity syndication through National Equity Fund Inc.

• Seller take-back promissory note financing, to permit the entire appraised value of the property to be considered for acquisition basis purposes

• California Solar Initiative rebates

• U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development-authorized use of residual receipts to be used to pay for a portion of the construction/rehabilitation costs.

All of the bonds, both the taxable and tax- exempt, were issued by the city of Richmond. Pre-development financing from several sources was repaid at the time of the close of sale to the new owner. “EAH Housing accomplished this without

any new subsidy loans from any source,” said Matt Steinle, EAH vice president for real estate development, who structured the transaction. The PV contractor provided a fixed cost for the modules and maintained a delivery schedule spanning two years. It also required flexibility on the owner’s part to work through challenges associated with the general under-supply of solar panels in the marketplace, in order to ensure timely delivery of the panels and CSI rebates. Fortunately, EAH Housing

maintained a good relationship with general contractor West Coast Contractors and subcontractor Sun Light

& Power, allowing it to keep the schedule flexible. The PV portion of the renovation is fully paid for via —

•More than $1.7 million in California Public Utility Commission rebates, under the CSI program;

• Renewable energy credits;

• Low-income housing tax credits;

• The reduction in owner-paid electricity costs for this master-metered complex by almost $154,000 per year.

This budget reduction permitted almost $3 million more in bond-financed permanent debt to be supported. Although there are limitations to the benefit of the renewable energy tax credits in low-income housing tax credit and tax-exempt private bond financing, the true value is largely realized by the owner’s ability to claim the entirety of tax credit at the time the PV system is placed in service.

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EAH Housing wins bid to build affordable housing in Emeryville, CA

EMERYVILLE, CALIF. -  The City of Emeryville selected nonprofit developer, manager and advocate of affordable housing EAH Housing to develop a new mixed-use affordable apartment community at 3706 San Pablo Avenue. EAH chose award-winning national firm KTGY Group, Inc. to design the community. The 86-unit transit-oriented development will incorporate a solar photovoltaic system, a community garden and 7,000 square feet of commercial space on the ground floor.

“Emeryville is excited about initiating our newest affordable housing development located in a neighborhood near BART, regional bus services, retail services and schools.  This development is complemented by our rain garden and pedestrian and bicycle improvements on San Pablo Avenue,” said Emeryville Mayor Jac Asher.

The five-level affordable community will be situated on the eastern block of San Pablo Avenue, between West MacArthur Boulevard and 37th Street. Apartments will be a mix of one to four bedrooms and range from 670 to 1,400 square feet. It will include elements for all ages, such as a child play center, young adult Zen garden and rooftop sky deck overlooking the city.

"We are thrilled to be selected by the City of Emeryville as the architect for the San Pablo site along with EAH Housing," said KTGY Associate Principal Jessica Musick and the lead designer of the project. "We look forward to working closely with the City, EAH and the community to transform this vacant site into a vital mixed-use development."

The EAH Housing/KTGY team received the highest ranking by the City out of nine developers from across California who submitted proposals. The City asked for family-oriented unit layouts, open space, community benefits, affordability and strong financing plans. In keeping with the City's initiatives, the project will also be environmentally friendly and achieve Build It Green and/or LEED Silver certification at minimum.

“We are honored to have the City of Emeryville select EAH as the development partner to build much needed affordable family apartment homes in Emeryville,” said Mary Murtagh, President and CEO of EAH Housing.  “This new community will embody both the values of the City and the mission of EAH by melding together quality affordable homes with commercial mixed use on the ground floor, transit-oriented housing, and leading energy efficiency and environmental measures.”

The site is less than a mile from the MacArthur BART station and well serviced by multiple buses. To make the community more pedestrian-friendly and encourage bicycle use, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission will fund realigned high-visibility sidewalks and improved landscaping along San Pablo Avenue.

Construction is slated to begin spring of 2016.