From Dateline (September 16, 2004)

Additional Land Purchased for Faculty/Staff Housing

California State University, Fullerton and its housing authority are expanding affordable housing opportunities for faculty and staff members.

The Cal State University Board of Trustees was scheduled to take action on the conceptual approval of the purchase of three acres of property from the Fullerton Elks Lodge during the board’s Sept. 14-15 meeting.

“It’s been more than two and one-half years since we began discussions with the Elks regarding this purchase,” said Bill Dickerson, executive director of the housing authority and the CSU Foundation. “It’s great to see this project finally begin to take shape.”

Plans call for constructing about 44 homes and town homes on the property overlooking the intersection of Brea and Harbor boulevards. The agreement calls for the outright purchase of the property with a portion of the payments spread over a span of 99 years.

“Paying over an extended length of time helps make the housing more affordable for our faculty and staff, and at the same time also works well by provid-ing a steady flow of income to the Elks,” noted Dickerson, who added that the agreement includes provisions for the housing authority to underwrite the construction of a new Elks lodge adjacent to the housing site. “The new, smaller lodge will bet-ter serve the current and future needs of the Elks,” he added.

Dickerson noted that attached and town home styles, as seen in several recent develop-ments in North Orange County, are popular and appropriate for areas such as the Elks property. Designs feature two and three-story homes ranging in size from 1,600 to 2,000 square feet. Prices for the homes are expected to range from $350,000 to $430,000 – which Dickerson says is about $150, 000-200,000 below market for homes of this size.

The latest property development would be the second such successful effort of the CSUF Housing Authority, a special-purpose auxiliary established to oversee the development of affordable housing for the university. In June 2001, the authority broke ground on Cal State Fullerton’s first affordable housing community, University Gables, on eight acres at the corner of Malvern Avenue and Dale Street in Buena Park. The property was sold to CSUF for $1 by the city of Buena Park after the county deeded it to the city for affordable housing. University Gables has 36 town homes and 50 detached homes.

“We have high hopes that the Elks property – tentatively known as ‘University Heights’ because of its elevation – will be equally as successful as University Gables,” said Dickerson.