MOUNTAIN VIEW — An affordable housing project is pushing forward following the successful conclusion of a search that lasted well over a year to find a suitable buyer for a Mountain View site at a choice location.
CRP Affordable Housing and Community Development has paid just over $10 million to buy a site totaling 0.6 acres at 334 San Antonio Road next to California Street, according to documents filed on Sept. 20 with the Santa Clara County Recorder’s Office.
In early 2023, commercial real estate firm Marcus & Millichap began seeking a buyer for the site on behalf of the seller, a business entity headed up by Naresh Krishnamoorti, an Alameda resident and Bay Area real estate executive.
For more than a year, Marcus & Millichap brokers Kirk Trammell, David Cutler and Joshua Johnson scouted for a buyer. It became apparent in the early stages of the search that developers of market-rate housing weren’t interested in buying the site.
That’s partly because market-rate housing is more costly to construct than affordable housing, especially in the current era of sky-high inflation and soaring interest rates, which makes construction financing expensive.
“Interest rates had increased significantly over the previous year and most developers were not actively acquiring new development sites,” Marcus & Millichap investment specialist Kirk Trammell said.
That forced Marcus & Millichap to seek elsewhere for a possible buyer.
“With market-rate developers on the sidelines, we knew the likely buyer would be an affordable housing developer that could increase the unit count on the site,” Trammel said.
CRP Affordable Housing and Community Development has proposed a 100-unit affordable housing project at the site.
The project is wending its way through the Mountain View review process. It wasn’t immediately clear how long this process would take.
Plus, CRP Affordable Housing would have to procure construction financing. In addition to conventional funding, affordable housing projects often receive funds backed by state agency financing, bonds, or tax credits.
“The site has an excellent location for multi-family residential,” Marcus & Millichap stated. “It is less than one-third of a mile to Caltrain and walking distance to retailers such as Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Target, Walmart, Safeway, CVS, and numerous restaurants.”