Alegre Apartments is Irvine's first permanent affordable housing complex
Nov. 6, 2015 Updated 11:29 a.m.
By SARAH de CRESCENZO / STAFF WRITER
Jennifer Tims can?t remember the last time she had a room to call her own.
At first, falling asleep alone in the two-bedroom apartment she rents in the Alegre Apartments complex was an unfamiliar experience.
?It was a little strange, to be honest,? said the 35-year-old Irvine resident, who lives there with her youngest son, Julian. Her two older sons, age 8 and 9, visit often. ?We?re not all together on the floor, or a pull-out couch, or a futon, or in one bedroom.?
Tims is among the first residents of Irvine?s first permanent affordable housing complex. The Alegre project encompasses 104 units open to people who earn up to half of the area?s median income, based on household size.
The housing project, developed by AMCAL Multi-Housing, is the first permanent low-income housing in the city facilitated by the Irvine Community Land Trust, a nonprofit organization established with the goal of adding about 5,000 permanent low-income housing units to the city?s stock of affordable housing.
Tims calls the apartment, for which she pays $830 monthly, a ?dream come true.?
Months after moving in, she still chokes up when she recalls the moment she learned her name had been drawn in the lottery that determined who would get to move in. Her lucky number was 27, Tims said.
Construction on the 3acres of land near Sand Canyon Avenue, next to Cypress Community Park, began in late 2013.
With only an artist?s rendering to show what the apartments would look like, more than 2,400 people ? most from the immediate area ? signed an interest list, said Mark Asturias, Irvine Community Land Trust?s executive director.
?There was such a high level of demand, we hardly had to do any marketing,? he said.
Residents moved into the new apartments this summer.
Mario Turner, vice president of development at AMCAL, said the caliber of the community was defined early in the planning process by the Land Trust.
?They told us: ?This has to meet or exceed Irvine Co. standards,?? Turner said.
The Alegre units are spacious, with a washer and dryer and free Internet access. The complex has a two-story community center with a kitchen and computers, a game room tailored to teens and a small gym.
Next to the leasing office is a pool; and there is a covered playground for young children. Gates give residents direct access to the adjacent community park, which also has a playground.
The goal was to construct ?an asset to the community,? Asturias said. ?It has to feel like it?s part of the community, not an afterthought.?
Within walking distance are two of Irvine Unified?s newest schools: Cypress Village Elementary School, which opened in 2014, and Jeffrey Trail Middle School, which opened in 2013. A shopping center with a grocery store also is nearby.
Tims, who before moving to Alegre was living with her son in a motel in Anaheim, said knowing he will attend school in a safe environment gives her peace of mind. The complex, quiet and peaceful, is ideal for a family, she said.
In May, the Kennedy Commission, an Irvine-based low-income housing advocacy group, named Alegre its project of the year at the commission?s 33rd annual Affordable Housing Awards.
The involvement of the Land Trust, which owns the land on which the apartments sit, means the units will remain slated for low-income residents in perpetuity.
That?s unusual. Units dubbed ?affordable? are typically allowed to revert to market rate after a stretch of time, such as 30 years.
Alegre is just the beginning for the Land Trust, which aims to create 5,000 such units by 2025. Success would get Irvine more than halfway to its goal of having 9,700 affordable units once fully built out.
The board isn?t resting on its laurels, Asturias said: it is targeting a 4-acre piece of land on which to build its next complex by 2020.
Contact the writer: 714-796-2221 or sdecrescenzo@ocregister.com
Nov. 6, 2015 Updated 11:29 a.m.
By SARAH de CRESCENZO / STAFF WRITER
Jennifer Tims can?t remember the last time she had a room to call her own.
At first, falling asleep alone in the two-bedroom apartment she rents in the Alegre Apartments complex was an unfamiliar experience.
?It was a little strange, to be honest,? said the 35-year-old Irvine resident, who lives there with her youngest son, Julian. Her two older sons, age 8 and 9, visit often. ?We?re not all together on the floor, or a pull-out couch, or a futon, or in one bedroom.?
Tims is among the first residents of Irvine?s first permanent affordable housing complex. The Alegre project encompasses 104 units open to people who earn up to half of the area?s median income, based on household size.
The housing project, developed by AMCAL Multi-Housing, is the first permanent low-income housing in the city facilitated by the Irvine Community Land Trust, a nonprofit organization established with the goal of adding about 5,000 permanent low-income housing units to the city?s stock of affordable housing.
Tims calls the apartment, for which she pays $830 monthly, a ?dream come true.?
Months after moving in, she still chokes up when she recalls the moment she learned her name had been drawn in the lottery that determined who would get to move in. Her lucky number was 27, Tims said.
Construction on the 3acres of land near Sand Canyon Avenue, next to Cypress Community Park, began in late 2013.
With only an artist?s rendering to show what the apartments would look like, more than 2,400 people ? most from the immediate area ? signed an interest list, said Mark Asturias, Irvine Community Land Trust?s executive director.
?There was such a high level of demand, we hardly had to do any marketing,? he said.
Residents moved into the new apartments this summer.
Mario Turner, vice president of development at AMCAL, said the caliber of the community was defined early in the planning process by the Land Trust.
?They told us: ?This has to meet or exceed Irvine Co. standards,?? Turner said.
The Alegre units are spacious, with a washer and dryer and free Internet access. The complex has a two-story community center with a kitchen and computers, a game room tailored to teens and a small gym.
Next to the leasing office is a pool; and there is a covered playground for young children. Gates give residents direct access to the adjacent community park, which also has a playground.
The goal was to construct ?an asset to the community,? Asturias said. ?It has to feel like it?s part of the community, not an afterthought.?
Within walking distance are two of Irvine Unified?s newest schools: Cypress Village Elementary School, which opened in 2014, and Jeffrey Trail Middle School, which opened in 2013. A shopping center with a grocery store also is nearby.
Tims, who before moving to Alegre was living with her son in a motel in Anaheim, said knowing he will attend school in a safe environment gives her peace of mind. The complex, quiet and peaceful, is ideal for a family, she said.
In May, the Kennedy Commission, an Irvine-based low-income housing advocacy group, named Alegre its project of the year at the commission?s 33rd annual Affordable Housing Awards.
The involvement of the Land Trust, which owns the land on which the apartments sit, means the units will remain slated for low-income residents in perpetuity.
That?s unusual. Units dubbed ?affordable? are typically allowed to revert to market rate after a stretch of time, such as 30 years.
Alegre is just the beginning for the Land Trust, which aims to create 5,000 such units by 2025. Success would get Irvine more than halfway to its goal of having 9,700 affordable units once fully built out.
The board isn?t resting on its laurels, Asturias said: it is targeting a 4-acre piece of land on which to build its next complex by 2020.
Contact the writer: 714-796-2221 or sdecrescenzo@ocregister.com