Woodside Road Hallmark House Apartments Status Update

Wondering about the fire damaged apartment building on Woodside Road? This blog post provides an update on Hallmark House Apartments, a 72 unit apartment complex located at 531 Woodside Road in Redwood City.

In late 2013 a fire damaged Hallmark Apartments and displaced all residents. For more than two years, the owner and insurer had been working to reach an agreement so that KDF Communities can rebuild the property. While the settlement agreement took longer than expected, the rebuilding of this affordable housing project is now anticipated to start by the end of the year.

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 project is rebuilt.

Work to Begin December 2017

In 2016, the building owner submitted building plans to the City and expected the construction work to take approximately 12 months. Unfortunately, KDF Communities has seen a number of setbacks over the years. The first challenge was a delay in receiving insurance proceeds, which has now been resolved. The second challenge is related to their financing to fund the reconstruction. This issue is also expected to be resolved shortly. The good news is that the owner expects to begin rebuilding by December 2017, and the project would be completed about a year after that.

Due to the financing originally used, the Hallmark House Apartment project must remain affordable. This property will remain on the list of affordable housing options in Redwood City.

To learn more about affordable housing, go here.

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