UPDATE: Smart Growth Fund Taps First Two Projects

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SAN DIEGO-The San Diego Smart Growth Fund will help to finance two market-rate developments that will include residential and office condominiums. The $90 million fund, run by Phoenix Realty Group and The San Diego Capital Collaborative, will put approximately $4.5 million worth of equity towards residential units with $3 million going towards the office condos.The residential condominium project will comprise 75 units and 3,000 sf of retail space. Located at 6050 El Cajon Blvd, condo floorplans include one, two and three bedrooms with units priced in the $400,000 range. Groundbreaking is slated for the end of 2006 with construction spanning one year.San Diego-based Tammy Harpster, Phoenix Realty’s vice president for acquisitions, tells Globest.com that the second project, the Eastlake Village West Office Condos, will begin construction in 6-8 weeks. The development will consist of 10 buildings with a total of 62,784 sf and surface parking.Harpster notes that these two projects are the first two for the fund, with numerous projects being targeted. Though future development is dependent upon equity investment, “we will probably complete between 15-20 projects, with eight breaking ground this year,” Harpster tells Globest.com.The residential condominiums will be located close to San Diego State University. Keith Rosenthal, president and co-founder of Phoenix Realty Group, says that particular area has a need for “virtually any middle-income household that wants to realize the dream of home ownership.”Market-rate developments are becoming badly needed in the county, where homes average $550,000, according to the city’s Housing Commission. To afford a home at that price, a family’s annual household income would have to exceed $100,000, though the average income for the area is $64,000.Harpster says that the office condos will serve small business owners who want to own their own property. She tells Globest.com that this is the fund’s first office condominium project.The residential condominiums will developed by Agoura Hills-based AMCAL Diversified Corporation and Urban+West+Strategies will build the office units. The firm is based out of Santa Ana.Last year, Globest.com reported that Phoenix Realty Group had completed capitalization of the San Diego Smart Growth fund, receiving an initial investment of $60 million from CALPERS. An additional $30 million was added by Northwestern Mutual, Washington Mutual and in-house coffers.