164-apartment community is near Finley Community Park, Westside Transit Center and Santa Rosa Creek Trail
USA Properties Fund, one of the fastest-growing and leading affordable developer-manager-owners in the West, has completed College Creek, an apartment community that offers much-needed housing for residents that earn a wide range of income levels in Santa Rosa.
College Creek – located at 2156 W. College Ave., just west of Highway 101 and north of Highway 12 – is available for early-in-their career professionals, hardworking families saving for a home or even retirees living on a fixed income.
College Creek offers numerous amenities, including a community room, pool and fitness center. Photos by Darryl Bush
A public-private partnership made the 164-apartment community possible and provides housing in a region where almost half of renters spend at least 30% of their income on rent – and finding housing also remains a challenge after the devastating Tubbs fire in October 2017, the second-most destructive fire in California history.
“College Creek is an excellent example of how developers, public agencies and private partners can work together to create more affordable housing,” said Geoff Brown, President of USA Properties Fund. “It has taken a lot of hard work over several years, but we were all committed to making sure this project became a reality.”
‘Such a connected location’
USA Properties Fund acquired the 7.4-acre site from the Sonoma County Community Development Commission, one of the partners on the project along with Bank of America and the California Housing Finance Agency (CalHFA).
College Creek is close to downtown Santa Rosa – with its many restaurants and shops – large shopping centers, health care providers and several schools, including Piner High School and Santa Rosa Junior College.
The $79.5 million apartment community is also near the Santa Rosa Creek Trail and Finley Community Park, which offers sports courts, walking trails and a swimming pool. The apartment community is next to the Westside Transit Center, served by numerous bus routes that provide connections to the Downtown SMART station.
“It has been such a pleasure to watch this affordable housing development rise-up in such a connected location, and it’s so exciting to know that families are already building lives there on county surplus land, the former location of our water agency,” said Sonoma County Supervisor Lynda Hopkins, who represents the 5th district where College Creek is located. “The County of Sonoma and its Community Development Commission are pleased to help finance housing that is affordable to area workers, and where all community members have equal and fair access to housing options near transit, jobs, recreation, and services in a vital economy.”
College Creek is substantially more affordable than nearby market-rate units in Santa Rosa – and available to more residents at a wider range of income levels thanks to CalHFA’s Mixed-Income Program. Under the program, residents earning 30% to 70% of the area’s median income – about $37,350 to $87,150 for a three-person household – could qualify for College Creek.
“We are thrilled to work with USA Properties to help finance the College Creek development,” said CalHFA Executive Director Tiena Johnson Hall. “This partnership, with such incredible local government support from Sonoma County, is a great model as our state continues to produce affordable housing for struggling families at a variety of income levels.”
Affordable with a long list of amenities
And for households of various sizes, with one-, two- and three-bedroom units. Rents for a one-bedroom apartment range from $723 to $1,761, based on household income, while rents for a three-bedroom home are from $973 to $2,412.
“The new College Creek community brings much-needed affordable housing to help address the rising cost of living that has contributed to the region’s labor challenges,” said Jason Foster, Bank of America North Bay President. “Bank of America provided a construction loan and equity to our longtime partner USA Properties for this service-rich development. Along with Sonoma County and the State of California, College Creek is a great example of public-private partnership in action.”
The apartment community is affordable but also has a long list of amenities, some found only at market-rate properties. College Creek – a four-story building and two three-story buildings – includes a community room with a kitchen and computer workstations; a fitness room; a swimming pool; on-site laundry facilities; and a tot-lot.
The apartments feature energy-efficient appliances and light fixtures, ceiling fans and low-flow faucets, showers and toilets.
College Creek recently held an open house that included tours of the apartments.
With the completion of College Creek, USA Properties Fund has seven affordable apartment communities in Santa Rosa – and 10 in Sonoma County. The county figure includes Adega, a market-rate apartment community in Rohnert Park with several units available for lower-income residents.
“We’ve been working with the City of Santa Rosa and Sonoma County for many years, and we all want to ensure affordable, quality, safe housing for residents,” Brown said. “College Creek is the latest example of our ongoing efforts.”