NEW SENIOR HOMES BEGUN $9 MILLION COMPLEX TO BE DONE IN 2004.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

LANCASTER - City officials and a developer ceremoniously broke ground Monday for a 76-unit senior housing complex that they called the first major construction project in revitalization of a downtown neighborhood.

The $9 million complex, to be known as Arbor Gardens, will be built at the southwest corner of Kettering Street and Elm Avenue, where city contractors last year bulldozed aging homes and a small church.

``You won't recognize this part of the community when you come back in a few years,'' said Mayor Frank Roberts.

Arbor Gardens will be next to an older complex of 40 apartments that will be refurbished in Mediterranean style to complement the new buildings.

Arbor Gardens should be completed in about 10 months, according to Steve Eglash, president of Urban Renual Corp., the developer. City government got a $3.8 million federal grant to help with the project to provide housing for older citizens with low incomes.

``An area that was once a community problem will now be a community asset,'' Eglash said.

The elderly residents will be close to transportation services, shopping and entertainment, he noted.

The project is part of the city's North Downtown Transit Village improvement effort in an area generally bound by Avenue I, the Metrolink railroad tracks, Kettering Street and Fern Avenue.

The Arbor Gardens site was formerly occupied by a few homes and the Solid Rock Bible Church building, all bulldozed. The church moved to bigger accommodations in the former Fire Station 33 on Cedar Avenue south of Lancaster Boulevard.

Schools and public service providers will also get city help in expanding their operations in the North Downtown Transit Village. The idea for the North Downtown Transit Village was spurred by expansion desires of Sacred Heart Church, Desert Christian School and city officials wanting to further revitalization of Lancaster Boulevard that occurred in the 1990s.

The centerpiece of the Transit Village plan is a proposed municipal park coupled with expanded campuses of Desert Christian School and Sacred Heart Catholic Church, which also operates a school.

Details of the park are subject to change as the plan develops, but a concept map shows the park covering about 10 to 12 acres and having two baseball fields, two soccer fields and four basketball courts.

City officials have worked with the Arbor Gardens developers before, assisting them with a $5 million effort to refurbish the 200-unit Village Point apartment complex on Challenger Way just north of Avenue K.

The developers acquired Village Point in 2001 and financed the improvements through federal tax credits aimed at building housing for low- and moderate-income families.

Improvements to the Village Point apartments included new roofing, a computer center with high-speed Internet access for children, a new playground, a recreation center, new landscaping and office space for three nonprofit agencies.

The developers also had a security system installed with 32 digital surveillance cameras and a loudspeaker system.

Jim Skeen, [phone]

james.skeen(at)dailynews.com

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3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Officials break ground Monday for new senior apartments. From left are Mayor Frank Roberts, developer Steve Eglash, Vice Mayor Henry Hearns and City Manager Jim Gilley.

(2 -- 3) A crowd attends a groundbreaking ceremony for senior apartments at the southwest corner of Kettering Street and Elm Avenue, Lancaster. ``You won't recognize this part of the community when you come back in a few years,'' said Mayor Frank Roberts.

By Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News