An affordable housing apartment community meant for seniors and former foster youth is under construction on West Anaheim’s Beach Boulevard.
One of the now-demolished motels the city of Anaheim purchased in its buying spree on Beach Boulevard will become the inter-generational affordable housing community. Forty-seven affordable homes will be built at what was once the Americana Motel on Beach Boulevard north of the West Anaheim Youth Center. There will be 37 units earmarked for seniors, one for a manager and the rest dedicated to youth transitioning out of foster care.
“Too often these groups fall through the cracks,” District 1 Councilmember Ryan Balius said at a groundbreaking ceremony Monday. “This development is tailored to their needs, providing affordable housing with the kind of support and opportunities that help people thrive.”
Beyond just the apartment homes, the community will have social services onsite and staff to support residents.
It’s all a part of Anaheim’s “Rebuild Beach” initiative that’s seeking to revitalize the area with redevelopment, increased police presence and upgrading the area’s infrastructure.
The area was once an overnight destination for travelers and known as “The Road to Summer.” But as freeways expanded and fewer people used Beach Boulevard as a path to their destinations, the motels that once thrived on their business began to struggle and the boulevard saw more illicit activities. The city has bought several properties for redevelopment.
Next to the apartment community, a 60-unit townhome development will add more for-sale homes to the area, some of which will be aimed at buyers who are considered moderate income under state guidelines. That project will be built by Brandywine Homes in partnership with the city, which sold the property to the developer.
The groundbreaking on the city’s inter-generational housing community is another sign that the city is serious about revitalizing the area, Balius said.
The $34 million project received funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the city.
The city tapped Santa Ana-based Innovative Housing Opportunities as the affordable housing developer for the project.
IHO President and CEO Rochelle Mills said it’s a cohesive development that fills several needs at once in the different types of housing that’s in demand.
“We believe very strongly in a continuum of housing, going from rentership, into independent living and home ownership,” Mills said. “This is the kind of community where you’ve got a mix of incomes, a mix of people.”
Mills said West Anaheim is an area “prime for reinvestment and revitalization.”
“It’s perfect for housing because you have the youth center there, the police substation and, pedestrian wise, you have stores and restaurants,” she said. “This really is its moment.”
An ARCO gas station at the corner of Beach Boulevard and Lincoln Avenue is also planned to be demolished and redeveloped into a retail space with microbusinesses, officials said.
Along with the former Americana Motel, the development site also once housed the Beach-Lin Hand Car Wash, which the city previously bought and demolished in 2021.
The soil had been contaminated from past commercial use. Before construction could begin, the city had to address arsenic and pesticide contamination and harmful vapors from petroleum and industrial chemicals, according to the Department of Toxic Substances Control, which oversaw remediation.
Long-term monitoring of the site will continue.
“At DTSC we are in the business of healing lands,” Director Katherine Butler said. “And to see this project focused on healing people in our community who need those services the most, really shows us how those essential human rights of environmental access to clean air, clean water, and rights of housing and supportive services do really go hand in hand.”
The apartments are expected to finish construction by 2027.