Lookout’s July 31 housing forum featured a pair of panels with leaders weighing in from the political and development perspectives. The conversation brought to light challenges in financing a proposed tower in Santa Cruz, as well as the hurdles before the county in standing up affordable housing projects.
Lookout housing forum July 2024
Posted inHousing & Development
Financing will likely constrain Santa Cruz’s Clocktower Center to 8 stories instead of 16
After plans for a 16-story high-rise in downtown Santa Cruz sparked an uproar over new state laws that supersede local control to encourage more affordable housing, financing challenges will ultimately shape the proposal, according to one of its developers. Sibley Simon, a partner at Workbench, told Lookout on Thursday that the Clocktower Center project will likely be seven or eight stories instead.
Posted inHousing & Development
‘Clocktower project?’: ‘I don’t see anyone figuring how to do a 16-story building in Santa Cruz for a good long while’ — and other takeaways from Lookout’s housing forum
In a 2½-hour forum hosted by Lookout, panelists offered lively takes on the question of the evening: “Can Santa Cruz County control its housing destiny?” With the in-person crowd clearly mixed on the prospects of high-density development, Workbench developer Sibley Simon seemed to dismiss the likelihood of the 18-story Clocktower proposal in downtown Santa Cruz ever being built. In the first hour, local officials Manu Koenig and Sandy Brown debated the value – and difficulties– of the state’s housing mandates with state Sen. Scott Wiener.