Housing Authority Looks
Ahead to New Opportunities
Authority aims at bringing affordable
housing to faculty and staff members.
September 29, 2005
By Pamela McLaren
Four years ago, Cal State Fullerton
entered the real estate business with its first successful
affordable housing development, University Gables.
But few on campus may realize that behind the development
is a group of individuals that has been working for years
to bring about Gables and soon, University Heights.
The CSUF Housing Authority — formalized
in 2000 — is made up of student, campus and community
members who have been gathering on a regular basis, reviewing
property, making presentations and attending city council
and other municipal meetings — all with the goal of
generating affordable faculty-staff housing.
Donald Crane, professor of finance and a member
of the teaching faculty since 1976, has been involved in such
an effort since the early 1990s. Crane, who teaches business
finance, investments, retirement and estate planning, has
served as chair of the Housing Authority and its predecessor,
the Affordable Housing Task Force, since the early days.
“Our first real attempt was a piece of
property in Carbon Canyon,” he says. “We worked
on that project for about three years. Then, in the last minute,
we got aced out of the project. I believe it was because the
market got hot again.”
It was only the first of several such efforts.
Crane remembers that there was a great deal of activity in
those days but not much that was bearing fruit. “We
scoured literally hundreds of pieces of property trying to
find something. When you have no land and no money, it’s
very hard to build houses,” he says. “In essence,
we were trying to make a sale on the name and reputation of
the university.”
That all changed when the CSUF Foundation (now
Auxiliary Services Corp.) and the Housing Authority connected
with the city of Buena Park.
“Bill [Dickerson, executive director
of the housing authority and ASC], Conrad [Sick of Valeo]
and Courtney [Caldwell, housing consultant] worked very hard
to get that deal,” Crane remembers. “It didn’t
seem to be a perfect location because it was near railroad
tracks and a busy street, but now its very attractive because
it is adjacent to Amerige Heights and the new shopping center.”
That deal showed local cities and property
owners that the university was serious about affordable housing
and could put a successful deal together. The land for University
Gables, eight acres at the corner of Malvern Avenue and Dale
Street, was sold to CSUF for $1 by the city of Buena Park
after the county deeded it to the city for affordable housing.
Today, there are 36 town homes and 50 detached homes on the
property.
“Then we heard about the Fullerton Elks
property. It took three years to get city council approval
and there were incredible problems along the way,” says
Crane, giving a lot of credit to Dickerson and his staff.
“I admire people who are doing the hard work of negotiations,
schedules, analysis, budget. My part [as chair and faculty
representative] is easy compared to their efforts.”
The deal with the Fullerton Elks property is
very different from University Gables. The CSUF Housing Authority
will acquire approximately three acres of land and in return
the Elks will receive funding to build a new 13,000-square-foot
lodge, valued at approximately $3 million, adjacent to the
development. The Elks also will receive ongoing payments from
the authority over a 99-year period to pay for the remainder
of the land’s fair market value.
“Each project is unique in its potential,
problems, approval and process,” says Crane. “One
of the most important things is to make sure that the people
involved believe in the project.”
Construction for University Heights, a development
of 42 houses on a three-acre parcel adjacent to the Fullerton
Elks Lodge, is set to begin in October with completion scheduled
for December 2006.
Today, the authority is looking at several
properties as potential future sites. “We can’t
rest,” says Crane. “We need to work toward the
next project because we know it’s going to take three
to five years to bring to fruition.”
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