San Rafael eyes lot for affordable housing
San Rafael is negotiating the potential sale of a city-owned downtown lot to an affordable housing developer proposing to construct a six-story complex with 56 apartments.
The City Council met in closed session on Monday with representatives of Abode Housing Development to negotiate the “price and terms of payment” of 519 Fourth St. The quarter-acre site sits between Irwin Street and Grand Avenue.
Whether the property is sold, donated or leased to the developer is to be negotiated in a disposition and development agreement, known as a DDA, officials said.
“The parties are in the process of negotiating the DDA,” Assistant City Manager Angela Robinson Piñon said in an email. “The Council will eventually approve any DDA at an open session meeting.”
There was no action taken in closed session Monday.
San Rafael acquired the lot in 1983, according to a staff report. It is developed with a L-shaped commercial building and a parking lot that has been used for police and fire department storage.
With pressure from the state to facilitate more housing development, but with limited real estate available, officials said transforming the lot into an affordable housing complex is a good use of the land.
In December 2023, the city issued a request for proposals, stating it was planning to declare the land as surplus and seeking a developer to pitch a vision for affordable housing at the site.
In May 2024, the City Council agreed to enter into an exclusive negotiating agreement with Abode Housing Development to develop the site.
Abode is a nonprofit organization in Fremont that has completed affordable housing complexes featuring some residences reserved for formerly homeless people in Fremont, Santa Clara and Hayward.
For the San Rafael site, the developer plans to reserve half of the apartments for supportive housing for formerly homeless residents. One of the apartments would be reserved for an on-site manager, according to the application.
On-site supportive services with a full-time equivalent resident services coordinator and a part-time program manager are planned. Although not all homes will be reserved for formerly homeless people, the services will be available to all residents, the developer said in the application.
Twenty-nine apartments would be restricted for households with 20% to 30% of the area median income. Fourteen would be reserved at 50% AMI, and 12 at 60% AMI.
Given the affordability levels, the project would be exempt from provisions of the state’s Surplus Land Act, relieving some of the procedural requirements and making it easier to build.
“Given the potential for reduced land costs on publicly owned land, these sites present some of the best opportunities in the city for deeply affordable units,” Robinson Piñon said.
The proposal helps the city meet its housing goals, as well as work toward ending homelessness, Robinson Piñon said.
“The 519 4th St. site is in a prime location, within San Rafael’s vibrant and walkable downtown, two blocks from San Rafael’s Transit Center, and near multiple grocery stores and education facilities,” Robinson Piñon said.
In June, the City Council awarded the project a $200,000 grant to support planning entitlement for the estimated $54 million project.
“As the developer selected for this site, we have been working very collaboratively with the city as a partner,” Jon White, chief real estate officer of Abode Housing Development said in an email.
“Our aim here is to build affordable housing with a model that we have implemented with success in other Bay Area counties, where the combination of housing and supportive services helps people in need find a home and strengthens the surrounding community,” White said.