Call it transit-oriented development. Or work-force housing. Or multi-million-dollar pay-days for Santa Monica developers. Any way you hyphenate it, summer-time just over the train-tracks in Glendale - a.k.a. Bigger-Little Armenia - is boiling over with cheap-ass apartments:
"The projects will provide a combined 109 units of quality affordable housing," Glendale Mayor Ara Najarian told a crowd gathered at the southern end of Gardena Avenue to welcome the city's newest housing development - a $23.5-million, 65-unit affordable-housing project. City Lights and the soon-to-be-built $19.3-million Metro Loma will be a substantial resource for those looking for low-income residences in the city, he said. The location of the new housing, close to the Glendale Train Station, will also likely keep more cars off the road, Councilman Dave Weaver said.
City Lights at 1760 Gardena Ave. is filling up now, rents $500 to $900, with residents chosen by lottery from 3,000 applicants. (How does one join this "work force" anyway? Part-time blogging?) Mira Loma, a block closer to Amtrak and Metrolink, opens June 2009.
· Affordable housing opens [Glendale News-Press]
· City Lights Construction [Flickr]