APARTMENT-OFFICE COMPLEX ADVANCES DEVELOPER PAIRS WITH MENTAL HEALTH GROUP.

Byline: JIM SKEEN Staff Writer

LANCASTER -- Civic leaders celebrated the start Thursday of a $21 million project combining a building for mental health programs and a 100-unit apartment complex, a project they say will improve downtown while making it easier to provide services.

The nonprofit Mental Health Association and InSite Development LLC are partnering to construct a 20,000-square-foot office building and a neighboring apartment complex on city land at Sierra Highway and Jackman Street. The project, Poppyfield Estates, is expected to be open next summer.

``This is a joint effort between a nonprofit and a for-profit,'' said Richard Van Horn, chief executive officer of the Mental Health Association. ``I would say it's a joint effort between do-gooders and entrepreneurs, but I'll tell you we both have to be entrepreneurs and trailblazers to make this happen. This kind of project lets us do good well.''

If the project is successful, Van Horn said it should be a statewide model.

The mental health building will replace a 7,700-square-foot leased building on Division Street that has become too cramped.

Lancaster's redevelopment agency provided the land for the project. In exchange, the MHA and InSite partners will be required to maintain the mental health building as an outpatient facility that will not provide residential care or day care.

The partners also will be required to ensure that 35 of the 100 apartments be available to disabled residents and that rent on all of the apartments comply with government definitions of ``affordable'' for 55 years.

The project is considered part of the city's North Downtown Transit Village in an area generally bound by Avenue I, the Metrolink railroad tracks, Kettering Street and Fern Avenue. Among the goals is make service providers, such as the Mental Health Association, more accessible.

``This is part of our effort to turn north downtown into a vibrant neighborhood of homes, services and education,'' said Mayor Henry Hearns. ``We can all be proud of this today.''

The association has been serving the Antelope Valley since 1988. Its services include mental health care, housing assistance, job coaching and training in social skills and money management.

The developer has worked on other Lancaster redevelopment projects, including the $9 million, 76-unit Arbor Gardens senior housing project, located at Kettering Street and Elm Avenue, and the $5 million refurbishment of the 200-unit Village Point apartment complex on Challenger Way just north of Avenue K.

james.skeen@dailynews

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(1 -- 2 -- color) At left, Richard Van Horn, Mental Health Association chief executive, speaks at the Poppyfield Estates groundbreaking Thursday in Lancaster. Above is an artist's depiction of the project in which offices used by his nonprofit organization will be located next to a new apartment complex.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer