Steven Mihailovich of the Point Loma-OB Monthly, a publication of the San Diego U-T, reported on June 9th about a presentation on Mariner’s Cove, a residential complex in east Ocean Beach at the most recent OB Planning Board meeting this month.
A redevelopment project long planned for the 500-unit Mariner’s Cove apartment complex has been replaced by a capital improvements plan, according to a presentation to the Ocean Beach Planning Board by Barbara Frommell, senior director of government and public relations for property operator AIR Communities, and Ben Haddad of California Strategies, a consulting firm working on the project. The redevelopment plan was presented to the Planning Board in 2020.
“The project has changed from when we first approached you with it, when we thought we were going to be building [more than 200] additional units on the same footprint,” Haddad said at the board’s June 2 meeting. “But now we’re … doing capital improvements.”
Frommell said the improvements plan includes new siding, roofs, paint color and upgrades to site amenities over the next three years.
“It will improve the quality of life for residents and also importantly contribute to the preservation of affordable housing in San Diego,” she said.
Mariner’s Cove, built in 1984, is at 4392 W. Point Loma Blvd. on 31 acres leased through the San Diego Housing Commission. It offers 300 units considered affordable, with 100 of them for low-income households earning up to 80% of the area median income and 200 for moderate incomes up to 120% of AMI.
The remaining 200 units in the complex are market rate, with no income or rent restrictions.
The original redevelopment plan called for demolishing the complex and replacing it with new buildings with additional market-rate units at an estimated cost of $400 million.
Negotiations with the Housing Commission were drawn out over details of the plan until it was scrapped in 2025.
“We started this back in 2019 and 2020 and it ended up going for a number of years through all these machinations of agreeing and disagreeing,” Haddad said. “The market changes. The financing changes. At some point, there was concern about the feasibility of the project because it was going to be completely financed by AIR Communities. There was no public money involved. For different reasons at different times, it just could never come together.”
Capital improvements to the complex totaling $25 million that were initially agreed to in 2015 now must be completed. More than $4 million was spent between 2017 and 2019, when the redevelopment and addition was proposed, according to Housing Commission records.
The CIP remodel includes renovations to half of the existing apartments. Affordable units will remain in place for the duration of the new lease agreement, which goes to 2070.
Frommell said natural turnover of renters in the market-rate and 120% AMI tiers should help make enough apartments available for renovation to meet the goal of completing half of them in three years.
“The 80% AMI units don’t turn over as much,” she said. “A lot of those residents have been there for a long time and they fully intend to stay. If we see that we are not able to meet our milestones on any of those categories due to natural vacancy, we’ll go to Plan B.”
Residents who volunteer for the renovation will have the option of being relocated to a furnished guest suite onsite for two to three weeks while the work is done or move to an apartment already renovated.
Frommell said she expects some residents will stay with family or friends and some even might choose to stay in their apartments while the work is done.
“The idea is to have zero displacement and have this be as minimally invasive on residents as possible,” Frommell said.
OBPB member Chris Chalupsky expressed fears that market-rate tenants could be hit with large rent increases after the renovations and that some would leave.
Frommell countered that market-rate units will be renovated only after the current tenants move out, so any higher rents would apply only to people already shopping for a new place to live.
In addition, she said, rent increases can’t be substantial in an aging 42-year-old building.
Plus, the complex’s offerings will broaden under the remodeling, she said.
“Only 50% of those market-rate units will be renovated,” she said. “So the great part about this approach is there are so many options for people. They can choose a renovated market-rate unit if that’s what they want. … They can choose an unrenovated market-rate unit. Then the affordable units if they qualify for those. There are a lot of options for all types of households.”
Community improvements list
The Planning Board is moving to prepare a list of proposed community capital improvement projects to submit to the city of San Diego.
An ad hoc subcommittee consisting of board members Kevin Hastings, Tracy Dezenzo and Greg Diamond was formed June 2 to consolidate and expand last year’s recommendations to be presented to the full board for possible adoption at its meeting Tuesday, July 7.
Every year, the city requests proposals for capital improvement projects from community groups across San Diego to help prioritize projects competing for funds in the following year’s budget. Typical projects include street or park upgrades as well as items specific to a community, such as, in OB’s case, the pier replacement and a new lifeguard station.
The Planning Board aims to gather community feedback about its list, along with any suggestions not on the list.
“It’s always good to find new projects,” said OBPB Chairwoman Andrea Schlageter. “Otherwise, it’s just us repeating ourselves. The more people we can say that we consulted on it, the stronger [impact] we have.”
“It’s always good to find new projects. Otherwise, it’s just us repeating ourselves,” says Andrea Schlageter, chairwoman of the Ocean Beach Planning Board. (File)
The board pointed to the 46th annual OB Street Fair & Chili Cook-Off on Saturday, June 27, along Newport Avenue as a possible fountainhead of public input, given the usual thousands of people who attend. Plans are to share a table with other local groups such as the Ocean Beach Community Foundation or OB Historical Society.
“It would just be a good way to tally up any CIP interest, especially after we have a little subcommittee meeting,” said Schlageter, who added that local residents could be shown the tentative project list. “’These are some of the things we’re thinking about. What do you guys think?’”
