Grand Opening of Santiago Senior Villas Apartments in Santa Ana -- First Hotel-to-Apartment Conversion Project in Santa Ana Completed

Mosaic Housing Group, LLC announced it will hold a grand opening ceremony for Santiago Villas Senior Apartments, the first adaptive reuse project of an existing hotel in the City Santa Ana into a newly converted 89-unit affordable senior apartment community for persons 55 or older.

Santa Ana, CA (PRWEB) October 25, 2004 -- Grand Opening of Santiago Senior Villas Apartments ceremony will take place on Thursday, October 28th at 4:00PM at Santiago Villas located 939 E. 17th Street.

Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido will be among the dignitaries on hand, and the event will also include refreshments and tours of the Property.

The Project consisted of working with the City of Santa Ana, the Community Redevelopment Agency and the Santiago Neighborhood Community to convert an underperforming 169 unit hotel into an affordable senior apartment community.

According to Barry A. Cottle, a founder of Mosaic, prior to the conversion, the hotel was less than 10% occupied and had a significant amount of deferred maintenance. Most of its occupants were transient tenants. The hotel building was surrounded by unsecured open carports and given its proximity to the 5 Freeway and 17th Street, a major transportation artery, the hotel was conducive to vandalism and further decay."

Santiago Villas is now completely renovated with studio, 1 and 2 bedroom units along with 2 new elevators, exercise room, recreation room and a computer learning lab.

Financing for the project was provided in part by the City of Santa Ana and the Community Redevelopment Agency. Washington Mutual Bank provided the construction and permanent loan for the Project.

Nine of the apartments are being set aside for seniors with incomes at or below 40% of Median Area Income for Orange County (MAI), nine are reserved for seniors with incomes at or below 50% of MAI, another 36 units are reserved for seniors with incomes at or below 60% of MAI, and the remaining are reserved for seniors with incomes at or below 80% of MAI.

Given the high cost and scarcity of affordable rental housing in the City of Santa Ana, many of the Citys hotels have unfortunately become a substandard living option for its residents. The City of Santa Ana is committed to preventing blight to our hotels and creating affordable housing for its residents and Mosaics Santiago Villas will make an important impact in providing quality affordable living for our seniors," said Patricia Whittaker, Executive Director, Community Development."

Mosaic has offices in Orange and Los Angeles and was founded to provide affordable urban housing throughout Southern California.

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