The Santa Cruz City Council endorsed a plan on Tuesday that would offer developers incentives to limit building height to 12 stories in the South of Laurel neighborhood, including reducing the number of units developers are required to offer to very low-income renters.
Changing Santa Cruz
Posted inFood & Drink
New Leaf in downtown Santa Cruz to close Tuesday ahead of move to larger space
New Leaf Community Markets will close its downtown Santa Cruz location on Tuesday at 7 p.m. A new tenant for the Pacific Avenue spot has not yet been identified, but city officials say they hope that another grocery store will open in the space to serve the growing downtown community. New Leaf plans to open a new larger grocery store on River Street next year.
Posted inHousing & Development
Artists’ proposals sought for enormous downtown Santa Cruz mural
The City of Santa Cruz is taking proposals for a potentially giant new downtown mural on the yet-to-be-constructed development on the corner of Soquel Avenue and Front Street. The deadline for submissions is Oct. 31.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Rent cap gets final approval from Santa Cruz City Council
The Santa Cruz City Council unanimously approved a city ordinance to bring government-assisted living facilities with expiring rent restrictions, including the downtown St. George Residences, under the same protections mandated by a state law that limits the size of single-year rent increases. The ordinance will go into effect on Oct. 24, just a week before St. George residents were facing rent hikes as high as 200%.
Posted inHousing & Development
Cruz Hotel will move forward after Coastal Commission gives it a green light
The California Coastal Commission last week approved the long-discussed and debated Cruz Hotel project proposed at the corner of Front and Laurel streets in downtown Santa Cruz. The project had been appealed to the Coastal Commission, as expected, following the Santa Cruz City Council’s 5-1 approval of the hotel in March.
Posted inHousing & Development
Santa Cruz City Council to vote to restrict rent hikes at St. George — and other buildings like it in the city
The Santa Cruz City Council is slated to vote Tuesday on an ordinance that would bring all government-assisted housing developments in the city under the same protections as other housing developments established in Assembly Bill 1482. If passed, annual rent hikes at these developments would be limited at 5% plus inflation or 10% — whichever is lower.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Will Santa Cruz be ‘San Jose-by-the-Sea,’ as gridlocked as Saint-Tropez, or something better?
Housing activist and emeritus UC Santa Cruz sociologist John Hall sees Santa Cruz’s choices about growth – particularly the placement of a new Warriors arena – as pivotal to the future. “Is our city to become a ‘San Jose-by-the-Sea’ with high-rise skyscrapers looming over Monterey Bay?” he asks, or a “gridlocked Saint-Tropez?” He thinks there is another way and looks to Santa Barbara as a model for building heights and human-scale architecture.
Posted inHousing & Development
Facing significant rent hikes, some St. George Residences tenants feel hung out to dry
The St. George Residences along Pacific Avenue in downtown Santa Cruz will see rents rise substantially in 71 of its 122 units, due to an expiring 30-year agreement between the city and its owners. Although officials say the situation is unusual, the move comes at a time when homelessness among older adults is rising — and many of the 71 low-income studio apartments are occupied by seniors.
Posted inHousing & Development
Apple says it’s funding a housing project in Santa Cruz later this year — but local officials say ‘it’s news to us’
Apple’s newsroom announced an anticipated 2024 groundbreaking for a housing project in Santa Cruz that it is funding through its new Bay Area housing initiative, but details are few. The initiative’s goal is to help developers deliver “high-quality units faster and for significantly less” than current Santa Cruz costs.
Posted inHousing & Development
Parents, kids, and grandkids: How do we still live together in Santa Cruz?
The housing crisis in California is dividing families. We want to hear from homeowners with adult children not able to live locally, as well as from that younger generation itself, about the family dislocation brought on by the housing crunch.
