Satellite Pursues Fully Affordable Housing in Walnut Creek

An apartment complex in Walnut Creek could be razed to make way for a fully affordable housing project.

Satellite Affordable Housing Associates is looking to build an 87-unit, 100 percent affordable development at 150-170 Sierra Drive, the San Francisco Business Times reported. The Berkeley-based developer would have to demolish the existing 29-unit apartment complex that the firm owns on the 1.4-acre lot.

The project is currently being reviewed by the City of Walnut Creek under California’s Housing Accountability Act and the State Density Bonus Law. Of the 87 units, at least half will be two- and three-bedroom apartments. Satellite Affordable aims to receive concessions to reduce required parking to 62 spaces from 132 and requested concessions to increase the height limit and interior setbacks. If completed, Sierra Garden Apartments would comprise a six-story building with ground-floor community space, laundry rooms, an outdoor garden, a patio and a pool.

Satellite Affordable previously turned the 29-unit building on the site into a mixed-income complex. The parcel is in a prime location for redevelopment, having been identified as a possible building site for more housing in the city’s housing element.

While new state laws governing things like environmental review and density bonuses have cleared some development obstacles and made the approval process quicker, developers are still facing challenges from national issues. Namely, those pursuing multifamily and single-family projects have to contend with high construction costs, tariffs, economic uncertainty and high interest rates. In order to fund Sierra Garden Apartments, Satellite Affordable plans to use both private and public funding including low-income tax credits.

Under Walnut Creek’s housing element, the city must plan for 5,805 new units by 2031, with 3,501 of those being affordable, Contra Costa News reported. It remains unclear when final review for Sierra Garden Apartments will kick off or when construction could begin.

Elsewhere in Walnut Creek, last month, Concord-based DeNova Homes submitted paperwork to build a 112-unit, five-story apartment building on the site of Putter’s Miniature Golf at 1271-1275 South California Boulevard. In September, local property owner Steve Depper filed an application to build a six-story, 74-unit apartment building on the site of Dutch Girls Cleaners at 2094 Mount Diablo Boulevard.

— Chris Malone Méndez