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.
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