New housing projects expected to bring life, more foot traffic back to downtown Santa Rosa
There’s an anecdote developers like to share about Santa Rosa: More housing in downtown Santa Rosa will bring more people to downtown Santa Rosa. And keep them there.
It’s a story Hugh Futrell believes holds true.
Futrell’s company has a number of projects in the works downtown in different sectors such as housing, office and lodging.
He recently entered exclusive negotiations with the Santa Rosa City Council in partnership with Burbank Housing to bring a multipurpose development with housing and additional amenities such as a grocery store.
Another one of his housing projects is in its final construction phase just outside downtown at 888 Fourth Street.
“When there’s more people on the street, more retailers, more restaurants that attract people or events that attract the community as a whole, those things over time will alter that perception,” he said, referring to the belief by some that downtown is an “undesirable” place to be.
“There has also been a decline in the amount of downtown employment, particularly since the pandemic, and reversing that is going to be important to maintain a balanced downtown between housing, employment and hospitality.”
Santa Rosa City Council has made housing a priority, easing requirements for developers with plans on bringing high-density housing to the heart of the city.
One of the efforts was the passing of an ordinance that cuts the design review process from 10 months to three months and permit costs from $24,000 to $9,000.
The Express Permitting Program also was created to cut the planning, engineering and building review times from around 18 months to 6 months total.
Housing in downtown Santa Rosa has been a key topic when it comes to revitalizing the historic area.
Both market-rate and affordable housing units exist, but more projects have been announced in the past year. Building more places to live downtown will by extension bring more people downtown.
Council member Chris Rogers, whose district includes downtown Santa Rosa, said one of the biggest challenges with bringing more urban housing continues to be high costs of building and construction.
“The cost of living is really high here and rents feel very high to us, and to many developers, the return on investment is low so we really do have to be creative to get projects built up here,” he said.
State of downtown housing
Data from the Up Downtown program shows that 198 units of housing have been constructed in downtown Santa Rosa since 2016, with 418 units currently under construction (as of this year) and another 924 units in the building permit process since 2016.
There’s housing in the Rosenberg building, and Catholic Charities recently completed the first phase of its affordable housing project with Burbank Housing known as Caritas Homes.
The second phase is expected to break ground next fall.
On top of more affordable housing developments, efforts to bring more workforce housing also have increased.
Developer Cornerstone Downtown’s director of marketing and development, Pauline Block, said they hear from employers constantly about the need for workforce housing, especially for people with occupations such as teaching or nursing who don’t qualify for affordable housing but often are unable to afford typical rent.
“We really need all levels of housing,” Block said. “It’s going to take a collaboration to really make a difference in downtown, with employers, developers and with the city so I think there’s an opportunity and openness to figure out how to make it happen.”
Cornerstone Downtown has two developments currently in the planning stages. The first property is at 34 Sixth St. near the Railroad Square SMART station and will be a six-story building with 114 units of housing. Eight percent of the units will be reserved for low-income households.
The second property is at 556 Ross Street which is currently a parking lot between the former Press Democrat building and Barrel Proof Comedy. This project will be an eight-story, mixed-use development with 118 units of housing, a public child care center, a small cafe and shared electric fleet of vehicles for building residents to use.
Both are waiting for final confirmations to break ground.
Block said there have been many challenges with bringing more workforce housing to downtown Santa Rosa. She says there aren’t the same subsidies, grants or tax credits available for this type of housing.
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