Building on Surplus County Land Helps Affordable Housing Pencil Out in San Diego

Building on Surplus County Land Helps Affordable Housing Pencil Out in San Diego

Built on 4.5 acres of county-owned land, Levant Senior Cottages is a 127-unit affordable housing development serving seniors in San Diego, California. Photo credit: Wakeland Housing and Development Corporation

Surplus government-owned land can be a valuable resource for addressing local affordable housing needs. In the Linda Vista neighborhood of San Diego, California, development partners Wakeland Housing and Development Corporation and San Diego Kind opened Levant Senior Cottages in the summer of 2024. The site, a 4.5-acre lot owned by San Diego County, once hosted a child welfare center, but it had been vacant for several years. By using this surplus land and limiting the size of the units, the development team delivered 127 units of affordable housing for seniors aged 55 and older who earn between 25 and 50 percent of the area median income, all at a cost significantly below the average cost of a new unit in San Diego.

Affordable Housing Helps Seniors Age in Place

The Levant Senior Cottages development consists of 18 single-story, bungalow-style buildings; 2 two-story buildings; and a community building that hosts onsite services and social events. The design reflects the density and style of the surrounding neighborhood. The units have outdoor patios that encourage residents to socialize. Onsite amenities include a community room and kitchen, a computer room, a fitness room, and a picnic area. Nearby neighborhood amenities include a public library, a recreation center, and shopping. Across the street from Levant Senior Cottages is the Linda Vista Recreation Center, a 15-acre site featuring outdoor space, community rooms, and tennis courts as well as programming that includes classes in baking and art.

Of the 127 units at Levant Senior Cottages, 108 are studio apartments and 18 have one bedroom; a 2-bedroom apartment serves as the manager's unit. Thirty-two units are restricted to extremely low-income seniors who are physically frail. The St. Paul's PACE program provides various care services for these residents, such as adult daycare, prescription drug coverage and prescription management, help with dietary needs, and in-home social service care that can include bathing, cleaning, shopping, meal preparation, and assistance with medical equipment and supplies. PACE also provides medical care for residents, including primary care, dental care, and optometry. Julie Hattler, director of development at Wakeland Housing and Development Corporation, emphasizes how this program enables qualifying seniors to live with a degree of independence, allowing them to avoid moving into a long-term nursing home facility.

The community room at Levant Senior Cottages provides space for social events for residents. Photo credit: Wakeland Housing and Development Corporation

Development costs for Levant Senior Cottages totaled $47.7 million. Funding sources included $19 million in equity raised from the sale of low-income housing tax credits (LIHTCs) and $19 million from the state's Multifamily Housing Program. The total project costs break down to $375,275 per unit, which is significantly less than the $586,525 average cost to develop a new housing unit in San Diego; the average development cost for a LIHTC-supported unit in San Diego ranges from $458,000 to $481,000, according to a 2025 report.

Building on Surplus Land

Hattler reports that, as early as 2018, San Diego County had been envisioning the vacant site of the former child welfare facility as a future home for much-needed senior affordable housing and reached out to San Diego Kind, a nonprofit developer, to help advance the idea. To prepare the site, the county demolished the existing structures. Wakeland joined the effort the following year and helped secure financing for the project by 2021. Following some grading work, construction began in June 2022 and finished in June 2024; the project was leased up the following month. Contributing to the comparatively low development cost of Levant Senior Cottages was the nominal cost of land, which the county leases for $1 per year, and a $10,000 annual fee to cover administrative costs. The agreement will keep Levant Senior Cottages affordable for 70 years and demonstrates the potential impact of deploying surplus government-owned land toward affordable housing development. Levant Senior Cottages was the first such project to open its doors in San Diego County. Building on this success, 10 additional affordable housing projects are in the development pipeline, all being built on surplus land.