Pacific Station North affordable housing project breaks ground in downtown Santa Cruz

The City of Santa Cruz has to plan for 3,736 housing units by the end of 2031, and in just under two years, the stretch of Pacific Avenue between Laurel Street and Cathcart Street could hold about 200 of those units.

Pacific Station South, which is to include 70 affordable units, along with bottom-floor space for retail and community services, is approaching completion, with the hope of getting residents into the space by July. On Monday, the city and its project partners, Eden Housing and For the Future Housing, celebrated the groundbreaking of Pacific Station North, which is going to lie where the old Santa Cruz Metro transit hub used to operate, and is slated for completion in fall 2026.

Pacific Station North, like its southern counterpart, is aimed at tying affordable housing to a new and improved transit system. It will include 128 affordable units connected to a new bus and transit hub facing Front Street, which will see 22 new bus bays. 

About 100 residents, housing advocates and local leaders came to the city’s celebration at the project site early Monday afternoon. City Economic Development and Housing Director Bonnie Lipscomb said the project has been a long time coming, as the first community engagement process happened way back in 2001.

“So you can just get a sense of how long it has been in the making,” she said, pointing to previous Metro General Manager Les White and longtime city redevelopment director Ceil Cirillo for being integral to the project’s conception. “It took a commitment and a leap of faith, and without their vision to start us all off, I don’t think we would be here today.”

Santa Cruz Mayor Fred Keeley added that getting shovels in the ground is a major milestone, and one that is desperately needed. He said that this rapidly changing urban landscape is going to be the new norm for the next decade-plus.

“There will be lots of groundbreakings for important housing and other services that for quite frankly, too long, the City of Santa Cruz turned its back on,” he said. “And now we are turning our face to embracing the kind of development that is consistent with the values in our community.”

District 3 County Supervisor Justin Cummings said he’s happy to see the project get started, given how much controversy new developments often cause.

“I live right down the block, and I said yes to this thing directly in my backyard because I know how important it is for us to have affordable housing in our community,” he said.

Cummings added that affordable developments like those at the Pacific Station projects are an important part of local efforts to connect housing with social services, which he said is crucial to a healthy community.

“If we don’t have a housing pipeline, people get stuck, and what we want to do is try to show that those people can improve their lives and move on to other forms of housing,” he said. “They can continue to move forward on these upward pathways of socioeconomic mobility.”

A tour of the seventh and top floor of Pacific Station South gave a sneak peek into what the units in both complexes will look like. The rooms are a mix of studios and one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments with a bathroom and a main seating area. There are small decks that overlook Pacific Avenue and give residents a view of a good portion of the Westside and the green hills that lead to UC Santa Cruz. Each apartment has plenty of windows, allowing ample natural light into each room and providing a view in all directions.

Pacific Station North is expected to cost about $119 million. The apartments in the developments will be reserved for Santa Cruzans making no more than 60% of the area’s median income, which is $132,800, according to the Housing Authority of the County of Santa Cruz. 

City Asset and Development Manager David McCormic said monthly rates for the apartments in both buildings will range from around $750 to $2,500 depending on the type of residence. While it will be close to two years before all units under development on the block are available, local officials agree that groundbreaking is a major step forward.

“It’s the whole community that makes these things happen,” said Housing Santa Cruz County Executive Director Elaine Johnson. “What I know is that we’re all in alignment and have the same vision to make sure everyone has a place to call home.”

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