If you’ve driven down Chapel Avenue recently, you might’ve passed Lantern Terrace near the Main St intersection without knowing what it was. The apartment complex, a 44-unit building with studio, one-, two-, and three-bedroom units, is Alhambra’s newest affordable housing project.
There are other affordable housing apartments in the city, and more in development. Lantern Terrace is entirely affordable housing and its first residents are moving in throughout the next few months. Related California, the company that built Lantern Terrace, screens applicants to ensure they meet the income requirements — it defines low-income as 60% of the area’s median income or less — and will choose the residents through a lottery system. Additionally, there will be a small commercial area on the ground floor, making it a mixed-use building.
Jennifer Ing-aram, Senior Project Manager at Related California, said that the City of Alhambra owned the land and asked for proposals from development companies to build affordable housing there. Related California started in 1989 as an affordable housing developer exclusively, though it has since expanded into luxury housing development as well, and Ing-aram credits its extensive experience in affordable housing development as the reason why it was chosen by the City to carry out the Lantern Terrace project. It has offices in San Francisco, Santa Monica, DTLA, and Irvine, and does both affordable and market rate housing projects throughout the state, as well as in Portland, Oregon.
Lantern Terrace will also have a community room for residents to reserve for birthday parties or other private uses, as well as workshops, events, and holiday parties that a specially appointed community manager will organize.
“When we build these affordable housing projects, it’s not just about the building itself,” Ing-aram shared. “We also care about bettering the tenants’ lives, so we also provide services for our tenants as well. We provide things like health and wellness classes, financial education classes to educate and help the tenants enhance their life skills.”
Ing-aram said they received thousands of applications for the 43 available units (with the last one reserved for the property manager). “What that tells me is that there is a true need in Alhambra for affordable housing. The City understands that there’s an affordable housing crisis, so they’ve focused a lot of their efforts on affordable housing in Alhambra. If there are more people who can afford to live and work in Alhambra, it’s better for the city,” she added.
For more information on Related California’s projects, visit relatedcalifornia.com. To learn more about Lantern Terrace, visit lanternterraceapts.com.
