Santa Cruz Awarded $20.9M Grant For Pacific Station Project

Santa Cruz CA

07 December, 2021

2:27 PM

Description

Press release from the City of Santa Cruz: Dec. 7, 2021 The City of Santa Cruz announced it was awarded a $20.9 million grant from the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) Infill Infrastructure Grant (IIG) program for its Pacific Station redevelopment project. The combined Pacific Station North and Pacific Station South projects will include 165 100-percent-affordable housing units, a new downtown Santa Cruz Pacific Station Metro Station, a low-income medical and dental clinic, and retail and commercial space. "These critical funds for infrastructure improvements and site preparation help leverage the City's Affordable Housing Trust funds to provide a majority of much-needed Extremely Low Income (ELI) and Very Low Income (VLI) family rental apartments in this 100 percent affordable housing development in the heart of the City's downtown," said City of Santa Cruz Affordable Housing Manager Jessica de Wit. In addition to the Pacific Station site, the IIG funds will help install infrastructure that benefits all of downtown Santa Cruz, including the implementation of the Downtown Stormwater Resilience improvements, street and streetscape improvements (including traffic signals, bike lanes, left turn lanes, bus turn lanes, trees, landscaping, wayfinding, and lighting), and the construction of public pedestrian and bicycle paseos providing open space connections from the project area to the Santa Cruz Riverwalk. "The Pacific Station project is a key part of our revitalization efforts on lower Pacific Avenue and will bring enormous benefits to the whole downtown. In addition to the creation of substantial affordable housing and a major transportation investment, this grant will help us realize part of the vision in the Downtown Plan, creating a new major pathway and open space connection through Downtown to the Riverwalk that can be enjoyed by the entire community," said City of Santa Cruz Economic Development Director Bonnie Lipscomb. Funded by the Veterans and Affordable Housing Bond Act of 2018 (Proposition 1), the primary objective of the IIG program is to promote infill housing development by providing financial assistance for Capital Improvement Projects that are an integral part of or necessary to facilitate the development of infill housing. Although the program does not fund the development of the housing itself, the infrastructure it provides is necessary for housing development. "The Infill Infrastructure Grant program supports our commitment to increase the sustainability and affordability of communities across California. We're pleased to provide this funding to local communities for critical infrastructure improvements that will facilitate the building of housing and serve families throughout California for generations to come," said Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency Secretary Lourdes Castro Ramírez. This press release was produced by the City of Santa Cruz. The views expressed here are the author's own.