Meta Housing Corp. Fast-Tracks LA Senior Affordable Housing

Meta Housing Corporation is looking to build another affordable housing complex in Canoga Park’s Warner Center area.

The Los Angeles-based firm submitted an application to build affordable apartments for senior citizens at 21010 Vanowen Street, Urbanize Los Angeles reported.

The firm would demolish a one-story office building and accompanying parking lot to make way for 395 senior apartments rising six stories. The development will feature one- and two-bedroom units and parking for 54 vehicles. All apartments will be reserved for low- and moderate-income households; in Los Angeles County, that’s a maximum of $89,550.

The project is a joint venture between Meta Housing and the Foundation for Affordable Housing, according to the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee. Y&M Architects is handling designs for the development. The estimated budget is $124.7 million, or $315,800 per unit.

The developer is using the city’s fast track for affordable housing approvals. To the east in Reseda, another affordable housing project is on the fast track: a six-story, 95-unit apartment building by JZA Architecture and developer Efi Meirson to replace four rent-controlled cottages.

Meta Housing is also mid-construction on an affordable housing complex at 21300 West Oxnard Street. That project will feature 301 studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments with parking for 229 cars. The company is also planning a 232-unit affordable housing development 6033-6039 De Soto Avenue.

At the same time, the firm has been selling off other senior multifamily properties across Greater Los Angeles.

In July, Meta Housing sold the 240-unit Coventry Court apartments in Tustin to Jonathan Rose Companies. The property at 16000 Cambridge Street sold for $83 million and contains a mix of market-rate and affordable apartments for seniors. And last month, the affordable housing developer sold the Burbank Senior Artists’ Colony complex at 240 East Verdugo Avenue to a local private investor for $31.5 million.

— Chris Malone Méndez