Organized Labor

Union Project Comes in Ahead of Time and Under Budget

The grand opening for the affordable new Valencia Gardens housing complex in San Francisco’s Mission District will be held at the site Nov. 20. The project, located at 15th and Guerrero Streets, was completed in September.

“Mission Housing is proud that Valencia Gardens was completed ahead of schedule and under budget by 100 percent union workers,” said MHDC president Larry Del Carlo. “Mission Housing is also a union developer, with our employees represented by SEIU Local 790.”

The new building replaces the original housing project built in 1943. Work was begun in December 2005. According to Joe Mazzetti, the Project Executive with Nibbi Brothers, the project is 90 percent occupied, and expected to be fully occupied within a few months. He said there was a phased move-in, with the first occupants moving in in June.

Nibbi Brothers Construction was the contractor for the development owned by the Mission Housing Development Corporation (MHDC).

Nibbi Brothers provided pre-construction services to the Mission Housing Development Corporation (MHDC) for the project, demolition of the existing housing project as well as construction of the new units.

Valencia Gardens consists of affordable housing and community space on a five-acre site. There are 260 1, 2, 3 and 4 bedroom units; 218 flats and townhouse apartments and 42 one-bedroom senior apartments. All family units will have individual front doors facing the street and either secure backyards or upper rear decks.

The design, by architecture firm Van Meter Williams Pollock, includes the construction of a community center with property management offices, tenant association offices, and a community room. A learning center with after school programs for youth and a day care center for pre-school age children is also included in the new construction.

Valencia Gardens residents and the community surrounding the Valencia Gardens site, including neighborhood businesses, service providers, and residential neighbors participated in neighborhood design workshops and task force meetings held on-site since fall 1999. These meetings gained neighborhood members’ perspectives on the new design.

Valencia Gardens will have a total of 15 buildings. Two are podium construction, the remaining buildings are slab on grade. During the height of construction, about 160 union members were employed at the site, Mazzetti said.

Mazzetti said that Nibbi Brothers is heavily involved with affordable housing development in the City. “This is Nibbi’s fourth project for MHDC and its fifth HOPE VI Redevelopment project for the San Francisco Housing Authority,” he said.

The $50.3 million project was funded by a mix of public and private sources, incluing HUD, the California Department of Housing and Community Development, San Francisco Housing Authority, San Francisco Redevelopment Agency, and CitiBank. It represents one of the last affordable housing developments to receive federal funding due to cuts in the program by the Bush Administration. Non-profit developers are now trying to create new ways to fund projects by partnering with public agencies and private funders.

 “Mission Housing would like to thank our partners, community members and all who helped make the Valencia Gardens vision a reality,” said Steve Ronzone, Valencia Gardens Project Manager. “As public funding for affordable housing projects is increasingly threatened, Valencia Gardens serves as a model of public/private innovation that will guide San Francisco’s future affordable housing developments.”

Valencia Gardens was built in 1943 under the U.S. Housing Authority’s slum clearance program and sponsored by the Housing Authority of the City and County of San Francisco (SFHA). Valencia Gardens was the fourth housing project developed by the SFHA. The property suffered from many problems directly related to its age, including deteriorated or obsolete sewage, plumbing, and electrical systems, dysfunctional unit designs, deteriorated landscaping, lack of usable community facilities, rodent infestation, and inoperable fire ladders. In addition, the original design was problematic for site security and did not meet HUD HOPE VI or SFHA design goals of providing defensible, safe space.

A new design providing individual “ownership” of each home’s space and a non-institutional setting similar to the rest of the neighborhood’s housing stock was designed and developed.