Atmosphere Affordable Housing Development in Downtown San Diego Secures Financing; Construction to Begin on March 24

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Wakeland Housing and Development Corporation has closed on financing from U.S. Bank for the highly anticipated, $79.3 million Atmosphere affordable and supportive housing development in downtown San Diego. The project will break ground Tuesday on a site that has been vacant for more than a decade despite previous developers’ attempts to redevelop it.

U.S. Bank’s financing paves the way for Wakeland to develop a 205 unit, 12-story apartment complex in the heart of downtown San Diego. The project will include 51 supportive housing units for individuals with special needs, including formerly homeless, and will have an on-site learning center where residents can access workforce development training and financial literacy workshops. There is also ground-floor space for a small retail store or café that has yet to be leased.

“Atmosphere provides safe, high-quality housing at what had simply been a vacant lot in downtown San Diego. Located in close proximity to stores, public transportation and other resources to help low-income or homeless individuals to integrate into the vibrant surrounding neighborhood,” said Richard Shea, market manager for U.S. Bank’s affordable-housing lending division.

U.S. Bank and Wakeland closed on $52 million in construction lending, some of which will be replaced during development with a $44 million tax-credit equity investment through its community development subsidiary, U.S. Bancorp Community Development Corporation, to complete a financing package that also includes funding from the San Diego Housing Commission, Civic San Diego, Mental Health Services Act program of the California Housing Finance Agency.

“Wakeland began working on the development and financing for Atmosphere in 2009, and when the State of California took away redevelopment a few years later, the future of this project became uncertain,” said Wakeland President and CEO Ken Sauder. “Without U.S. Bank’s financing in place, coupled with other State and City sources, we wouldn’t be breaking ground today.”

In the mid-2000s, several developers attempted to build condominium projects at the site. The result of these failed attempts was a site with a huge hole that was both an eyesore and a hazard. In 2009, Wakeland entered into a Purchase and Sale agreement and began working with the City of San Diego’s redevelopment agency to fill the hole and acquire the property for affordable housing. After the dissolution of redevelopment in California in 2013, the site was transferred to the City’s redevelopment successor, Civic San Diego, which worked with Wakeland and other public and private organizations to pave the path for Atmosphere.

The development is composed of studios to three-bedrooms for tenants who earn between 30 percent and 60 percent of the area median income. Rent will range from $394 to $1,191 a month.

Construction is expected to be complete in February 2017. Suffolk Construction of Boston is the general contractor and Joseph Wong Design Associates is the architect.

About U.S. BankU.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB), with $403 billion in assets as of December 31, 2014, is the parent company of U.S. Bank National Association, the 5th largest commercial bank in the United States. The company operates 3,176 banking offices in 25 states and 5,022 ATMs and provides a comprehensive line of banking, brokerage, insurance, investment, mortgage, trust and payment services products to consumers, businesses and institutions. Visit U.S. Bancorp on the web at usbank.com.

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U.S. Bank Corporate Communications
Pat Swanson, 651-587-3590
[email protected]

Source: U.S. Bank

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