Old Bank Building Slated for Demolition to Make Way for Affordable Senior Housing

The city is poised to tear down an old bank building to clear the way for low-income senior housing.

The Redevelopment Agency Board of Directors will consider the proposal with a spate of other consent items during a meeting at 6:45 tonight, .

Demolition would cost $75,000, an amount set aside in the city's mid-year budget adjustments. It would clear the way for an affordable 70-unit senior apartment complex built by BRIDGE Housing Corporation.

Developers originally planned to foot the bill for demolition, but "due to certain economic constraints faced by affordable housing developers, and in particular the availability of funding for certain affordable housing projects, BRIDGE Housing was unable to proceed with the acquisition and requested assistance from the agency," according to the resolution pending agency approval tonight.

The redevelopment agency, which is comprised of City Council members, paid $1.6 million for the 1.39-acre lot at 9000 Alcosta Blvd. a year ago.

Since a fifth of the agency's money is set aside for housing, the purchase fits in with the city's aim to build more low-income homes.

The city says the bank building "is deteriorated and an attractive nuisance that needs to be removed," according to the same resolution.

Right now, a florist runs a business on the property under a month-to-month lease.

Also on the agenda

The agency has to borrow money from its affordable housing fund topay for K-12 education.

San Ramon has to pay $594,198 to the state's Supplemental Educational Revenue Augmentation Fund – a fund created by lawmakers in 2009 to close the state budget gap for education.

The state fund diverts $2.05 billion over a two-year period tax increments that would have gone to redevelopment agencies. San Ramon paid nearly $2.9 million in the 2009-10 fiscal year to the state fund.

The state demands the money on condition that it doesn't impair existing affordable housing contracts and services. In exchange, the agency is allowed to table any redevelopment plans for a year.

But San Ramon doesn't have the money available to make those payments. It didn't last year either. So it's borrowing the amount from its affordable housing fund, which it has to repay by mid-year 2015, per state law.

Read the agenda in its entirety, here.