Arroyo Grande housing development would add 23 townhomes— and a new coffee shop
A new housing development that would add 23 townhomes and a neighborhood coffee shop is in the works for a mostly vacant lot in Arroyo Grande.
The Planning Commission will consider an application from Steven Puglisi Architects on Tuesday asking to build a roughly 40,000-square-foot mixed-use complex at the intersection of Halcyon Road and Fair Oaks Avenue.
The development would feature five two-story buildings, with a total of 17 three-bedroom townhomes, five two-bedroom townhomes and one studio apartment above a 506-square-foot coffee shop. (What specific coffee shop would fill the location was not disclosed in the city staff report.)
According to staff planning documents, the units would be sold at market rate, though they are what is known as “affordable by design” — essentially designed to be less expensive to build, through adjustments to sizing and shared walls that reduce construction costs, and at the back end, sale price.
According to housing market website Zillow, the median listing price for all homes in the city — including condos and single-family residences — was $799,000 in December 2018. The median list price per square foot was $368.
Arroyo Grande Community Development Director Teresa McClish said the city will collect an affordable housing in-lieu fee from the developers “to help leverage future affordable housing projects.”
Currently the 1.6-acre lot is home to four houses that will be bulldozed to make way for the project.
The residential complex is across from the Arroyo Grande Community Hospital, in an area of town that has been home to numerous new developments in recent years.
In 2016, the City Council approved a three-story medical office building at Fair Oaks Avenue and Woodland Drive as part of an expansion of the nearby hospital.
In February 2018, the Planning Commission approved a mixed-use affordable housing development to be operated by the Housing Authority of San Luis Obispo just up the road at 224 Halcyon Road.
The HASLO project is expected to begin construction in March, according to Executive Director Scott Smith.
This story was originally published February 3, 2019 at 12:34 PM.
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