Groundbreaking in Downtown San Diego: Alpha Square
05.2014
Alpha Square Apartments, an affordable and supportive housing community at 14th and Market Street in Downtown San Diego, broke ground on May 1, 2014. This 203-unit project will serve as replacement housing for the 193-unit Hotel Metro, a dilapidated single-room occupancy hotel located in the East Village neighborhood. It will also provide permanent housing for low income individuals and those at risk of homelessness with 76 supportive housing units. These supportive housing units help meet a critical gap in our region’s housing needs. In 2009, the Civic San Diego Board made a goal of creating 500 supportive housing units in downtown, and adopted a policy to set aside a minimum 15% of affordable units as supportive housing in every affordable housing project. This goal of 500 new units will be surpassed when Alpha Square is complete.
The entire community is comprised of 203 homes ranging in size from 250-350 sq. feet, each with small kitchen facilities. The ground floor of the project consists of a residential lobby, kitchen, multi-purpose room, staff offices, computer labs, laundry facilities, restrooms and approximately 5,417 sq. feet of retail space. The community was designed to achieve LEED Silver or equivalent in accordance with Civic San Diego’s Affordable Housing Guidelines.
The development of Alpha Square was made possible through the partnership of Chelsea Housing, Alpha Project, Civic San Diego, San Diego Housing Commission, and US Bancorp. Alpha Square will be owned and managed by The Alpha Project for the Homeless, a non-profit, community service group whose mission is to empower individuals, families, and communities by providing work, recovery and support services to people who are motivated to change their lives. Alpha Square is anticipated to start accepting residents late next year. (Source: Civic San Diego News | May 2014 | Issue 1)
