531 Woodside Road, Hallmark Apartments Update

Last year, the City of Redwood City provided an update on Hallmark House Apartments, a 72-unit apartment complex located at 531 Woodside Road in Redwood City. This blog provides a recent update on this property.

Background

In late 2013, a fire damaged Hallmark Apartments and displaced all residents. At the time, the owner (KDF Communities) had been working with their finance partners in order to rebuild the property. Last year, the City was informed that the owner was not able to work out financing options and decided to sell the property. It was anticipated that once the property was sold to a new owner, the City would work with the new owner to move forward the construction that is needed.

Regardless of the new owner, the City loan requires Hallmark House Apartments to stay affordable. In 2003, the City provided a loan to KDF Communities to assist with the refinance of Hallmark to convert the property from market rate rental to below market rate rental. The terms of the City loan require the units to be affordable to very-low income households until the year 2058. The rent restrictions in place prior to the fire will continue when the property is rebuilt.

Update

Earlier this month, staff sent a code enforcement letter to KDF Communities regarding Municipal Code violations. The letter advised KDF Communities of corrective action needed to avoid fines and other code enforcement action to eliminate the public nuisance that currently exists. The property owner has until June 29 to respond. Failure to do so will result in an issuance of administrative code citations and referral to the City Attorney. This letter references code issues relating to abandoned buildings or structures that are not secure or improperly secured, or partially constructed but unattended for a period of six months or longer.

A separate letter sent on May 23 cited the property for overgrown vegetation that is likely to harbor rats or could create a fire hazard and encroachments into the sidewalk. The property owner has until June 14 to respond to the violation notice and failure to respond will result in separate administrative code citations.

We will provide ongoing updates about 531 Woodside Road, as we have them.

Learn More

To learn more about affordable housing, go here.

To learn about other current Redwood City projects, go here.