Downtown apartments get finishing touch

April opening planned for affordable housing at new Washington St. building

March 16, 2005

By COREY YOUNG
ARGUS-COURIER STAFF

Lizette Contreras has found a way to be a Petaluman again.

A year after moving to Novato with her husband and son, Contreras is readying for another move -- into the Downtown River Apartments, the latest Petaluma development from Eden Housing.

On Monday Contreras and her family became the first official tenants of the Washington Street apartments and will move in later next month.

"This is my hometown," Contreras said. "I lived here for 16 years, and I miss it."

The move will put her closer to family and a good education for her 3-year-old son Jose, she said.

"My mom and dad live here; my sisters too," she said. As her son scrambled around the hallways of the apartments, Contreras said, "I want him to go to school here in Petaluma."

She and her family will move into a two-bedroom apartment, though she doesn't yet know which one. While touring the building Monday, Contreras got a chance to see a few two-bedroom units and came away impressed.

"They're beautiful," she said. "Being in the downtown area, everything is close."

Though a few stray nails are sticking out of walls, and unopened boxes of sinks are stacked in the manager's office, Eden Housing officials say they're on track to open the apartments in late April.

After a year and a half of construction, the four-story apartment building -- one of the highest-profile additions to Petaluma's cityscape -- is 90 percent complete, the nonprofit housing developer said.

"This is a premium property," said Deni Adaniya, Eden's senior project developer, citing features that include a riverside park, retail shops on the ground floor and an architectural design that makes the block-shaped building look like a string of individual townhomes painted in shades of brick red, terra cotta and olive green.

The building's four walls deceptively mask a parking garage and central courtyard that will give Downtown River tenants privacy from the noise and rush of Washington Street, Eden said.

"What's unique about this property is the architecture," Adaniya said, leading a group of city planners on a sneak peek of the apartments last week.

It was the first opportunity for a large group to step past the construction equipment and hard-hatted workers that have been a constant sight at the property since breaking ground in January of last year, and get a look at 81 apartments that will be home to low-income Petalumans.

The apartments -- Hayward-based Eden's third Petaluma project, in addition to the Washington Creek and Corona Ranch apartments -- will be rented to those making between 50 and 60 percent of Sonoma County's median annual income.

For a family of four, that's between $37,300 and $44,760 a year. Rent for the apartments will range between $644 and $1,074 a month, depending on the size -- one, two or three bedrooms.

Construction crews are working their way down from the fourth floor of the building, where the units are nearly complete. The beige carpet and white kitchen appliances are in place. The only things that appear to be missing are the furniture and the sound of residents.

The smell of fresh paint permeates the central hallways that divide each floor -- apartments on the outside have large windows, some with views of the Petaluma River, the Turning Basin or hills to the east and west.

The inner ring of apartments on all three floors look out on the central courtyard, built on top of the ground-floor parking garage.

On Monday workers were pouring cement to complete the floor of the concrete courtyard, decorated with large landscaping boxes where trees and turf will be planted. The wide concrete borders of the planter boxes double as outdoor seating, Eden said.

Interspersed among the apartments on each floor are laundry rooms, elevator and stairwell access points, and activity rooms where residents will have free reign to make the most of the space. Adaniya said Eden envisions tenants operating home businesses out of the rooms or artists using the rooms as a space to create their work.

Outside the building, a 1,700-square-foot deck overlooks the Petaluma River and a barren bank where a riverside park will be built.

"The riverwalk is a premier amenity," Adaniya said. The pathways, seatwalls and landscaping will give tenants a place for "sitting, reading and just enjoying the outdoors," she said.

Children living at the apartments can play on two playgrounds and a basketball court at the north side of the building, far from Washington Street and screened with fencing and plants from the surrounding industrial uses, Eden said.

There will also be children's activities in a large community room on the first floor, where the Petaluma Boys & Girls Club will open a sixth Petaluma location that includes a classroom, kitchen and computer lab.

"We're doing a full program there," club president Jennifer Weiss said. "It is our vision to provide youth development programs where they are needed most. We cannot imagine a more appropriate place than the new Downtown River Apartments."

At street level, at least two and a maximum of five shops will open onto Washington, Adaniya said. San Rafael-based Circle Bank has already leased the east side of the commercial space. Eden is currently in negotiations with a coffee vendor and a wireless company for other spaces.

City officials bubbled with excitement during their tour, relishing the chance to see one of the earliest projects envisioned in Petaluma's central redevelopment plan.

"It's nice to see it actually happening," said Planning Director George White, praising the building's gathering spots like the riverwalk area and the central courtyard.

"It looks like it's going to be a wonderful place for the occupants to use," he said.

In its search for tenants, Eden has received fewer applications than expected so far, but still has a tremendous amount of interest, Adaniya said.

More than 160 people have applied, including Petaluma Valley Hospital workers and local teachers -- who officials often say are most in need of affordable housing within the communities they serve.

Bonne Gaebler, the city of Petaluma's housing administrator, said the apartments will serve members of the Petaluma workforce who need a local home they can afford.

"This is going to be a real asset to downtown, to have families downtown who hopefully may also work downtown, to be there 24/7 and be able to use the theater and the shops and the grocery stores and just be a presence there," she said.

Not only is Eden transforming "a brown spot in the middle of our town," but the company is providing much-needed rental housing, Gaebler said -- and has a record of success.

"What's most important to me, once we have it built, is good property management, and Eden definitely has that," she said. "I think they have the best property management I've ever seen."

Though fewer applications than expected have been returned, interest in the apartments is still high, Eden said.

"We're getting a lot of response over the phone," Adaniya said. "We've gone through boxes and boxes of applications."

People who currently live or work in Petaluma account for more than 80 percent of the applications already received, Adaniya said.

The applications are prioritized in the order received, and local applicants are given preference, she said.

"We have a very involved screening," she said. Applications, available at City Hall and the Corona Ranch apartments at 990 Ely Road, are due by April 29.

(Contact Corey Young at cyoung@arguscourier.com)