Alpha Square

Project Type: Special Needs

Project Cost: $42.7 million

Project Location: San Diego, CA

Client: City of San Diego

No. Units: 203

CIC Role: Developer

Project Problem
The City of San Diego and the San Diego Housing Commission needed to replace over 200 units of SRO housing for persons at risk of homelessness who lived at the obsolescent Hotel Metro project in downtown San Diego. We needed to develop replacement housing for the residents of Hotel Metro prior to demolishing that housing. 

Chelsea’s Solution
Chelsea proposed and Civic San Diego provided the site and gap financing for Alpha Square, a 203 unit mid rise project to provide housing for the residents of Hotel Metro. The project consists of two tax credit projects – utilizing 9% and 4% low income housing tax credits together with $17 million of subsidy from Civic San Diego. In addition to 203 housing units, which are more than twice as large as the Hotel Metro units, the project includes a commercial kitchen and 5,000 square feet of retail space that will provide job training and employment opportunities for residents of the project. Alpha Square is scheduled for completion in September, 2015 and is 100% preleased.