Irvine, CA – Jamboree Housing Corporation, one of California’s largest affordable housing developers, today announced the grand opening of Bonterra Apartment Homes on Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 3:00 p.m. Program participants include Brea Mayor Don Schweitzer, County of Orange and city officials, U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development, Bank of America, Brea city officials and Jamboree executives. Interview and photo opportunities are available.
Bonterra provides workforce housing for families who earn between 30% and 60% of the area median income (AMI) and consists of 94 garden-style apartment homes within the new Blackstone master-planned community, currently under development by Shea Homes and Standard Pacific Homes. The new property encompasses seven three-story buildings arranged around central courtyards and are linked by tree-lined, pedestrian-friendly landscaped walks. It provides 21 one-bedroom, 34 two-bedroom, and 39 three-bedroom apartments. The Spanish-inspired architecture features private garages for each apartment along with additional surface parking areas for residents and guests.
"The City of Brea is excited to have partnered with Jamboree to bring an attractive, energy-efficient and well-planned housing development to an important master development site,” says Mayor Don Schweitzer. “It speaks to the City’s values for quality and sustainability by integrating affordable housing throughout our community – for residents embarking on their careers and for those who have experienced setbacks in the economic landscape of recent years.” Schweitzer points out that an estimated 7,500 workers are within 1.5 miles of the site, noting that the master developers, Shea Homes and Standard Pacific Homes, showed leadership by seamlessly integrating Bonterra with other housing choices in the community.
Jamboree worked closely with the City of Brea, Brea Redevelopment Agency, the County of Orange, the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee (TCAC), Bank of America, and Merritt Community Capital Corporation to bring this new neighborhood from planning to reality, according to Laura Archuleta, Jamboree’s president. As a critical component of the Blackstone master plan, Bonterra was built as a requirement of Tonner Hills’ Affordable Housing Implementation Agreement with the City of Brea.
In fact, securing all necessary approvals, preparing the site and developing the property is a long and challenging process that took nearly a decade. “Our City, County, lending and development partners stayed the course, committed to Jamboree’s mission to provide quality affordable housing with impactful resident services,” continues Archuleta. “This is what public/private partnerships are all about and we are pleased to provide affordable workforce housing for the City of Brea and the Blackstone master-planned community.”
Formerly owned by Nuevo Energy, this 800-acree master plan area is located along the 57 Freeway.
The Blackstone community master plan will include seven new neighborhoods, a new city sports park, and extensive preserved open space.
Bonterra features a 3,500 square-foot community recreation center for use by Jamboree residents as well as landscaped community spaces for outdoor recreation. The building amenities include property management offices and classroom space designed for onsite resident services provided by Jamboree’s Resident Services Group. Offered at more than 38 of its properties, Jamboree’s onsite resident services are tailored to the specific needs of Bonterra families – that foster learning, healthy lifestyles, and community building to enrich their quality of life. Additional amenities include community meeting rooms, a computer lab, a swimming pool with patio area, a tot lot, barbecue/picnic areas, and a central laundry facility. Each apartment home features ENERGY STAR appliances and lighting.
In Jamboree’s ongoing commitment to sustainability, the property is designed as its first development to achieve a LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) for Homes Silver rating. The LEED Green Building Rating System is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high- performance green buildings. LEED promotes a whole-building approach to sustainability by recognizing performance in five key areas of human and environmental health: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality. Features of exceptional rating at Bonterra include water efficiency in all homes and an outstanding landscape irrigation system as well as the development’s overall project density that preserved open space for the adjacent parcel of a land preservation habitat for Gnatcatcher birds.
Michael Massie, Jamboree’s housing development director, points out that the Blackstone community is ideally situated for residents living in the new Bonterra community as it is located near major retail, entertainment and employment centers. Residents will also have exceptional views of surrounding cityscape and open space including the future Wildcatter Park located across the street from the Blackstone neighborhood. A central landscaped paseo connects the neighborhood’s residential buildings and community center to the main thoroughfare, Santa Fe Road.
Financing for development of the new Jamboree community consists of funds from tax exempt bonds, California Tax Credit Allocation Committee (TCAC) four percent federal tax credits syndicated by Merritt Community Capital Corporation, a $14 million construction loan and a $4 million permanent loan from Bank of America, construction and permanent financing from the City of Brea totaling $1.2 million, and a County of Orange permanent loan of $4 million including $2 million in HOME funds provided by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development at the outset of construction. Financing also consists of Multifamily Housing Program (MHP) funds of $7.7 million from California’s Department of Housing & Community Development (HCD), American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds of $7.8 million as a bridge loan to guarantee HCD’s permanent loan commitment, and a $.5 million pre-development loan from Enterprise Community Loan Fund.
KTGY Group, Inc. of Irvine, CA is the architect of Jamboree’s newest development and Advent Companies of Mission Viejo, CA is the general contractor. The John Stewart Company provides onsite property management.
Property Fact Sheet available upon request.
About Jamboree: Founded in 1990, Irvine, CA-headquartered Jamboree Housing Corporation is an award-winning, broad-based nonprofit housing development company that develops, acquires, renovates and manages permanently affordable rental and ownership housing throughout California for working families, seniors and people with special needs. HOMES, Inc. and Housing with HEART are 501(c)(3) organizations and comprise Jamboree’s Resident Services Group. A leading nonprofit developer, Jamboree is committed to sustaining excellence with high quality affordable housing that is good for the environment, the economy and local communities. It currently has about $250 million in affordable housing projects in its development pipeline and a $1 billion asset portfolio that includes the development of and/or ownership interest in more than 6,600 homes in more than 65 California communities. Currently, Housing with HEART programs and services that foster learning, health and community building are offered at 38 Jamboree communities with designated staff at each location. For more information, go to www.jamboreehousing.com.