{"id":237150,"date":"2014-09-05T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-09-05T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/a-new-lease-on-life\/"},"modified":"2014-09-05T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-09-05T07:00:00","slug":"a-new-lease-on-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/a-new-lease-on-life\/","title":{"rendered":"A new lease on life"},"content":{"rendered":"

Effort to transform Downtown\u2019s Hotel Churchill into affordable living underway<\/strong><\/p>\n

david fidlin<\/p>\n

Much like the lives of some of its intended residents, a century-old hotel in the heart of San Diego\u2019s Downtown has a long, storied life that has been filled with trials and triumphs.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The iconic Hotel Churchill will soon offer affordable housing. (Courtesy San Diego Housing Commission)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After sitting dormant for nearly a decade and facing an uncertain future, an effort to breathe new life into Hotel Churchill at 827 C St. has been picking up steam. The San Diego Housing Commission (SDHC) has been spearheading an effort to transform the property into affordable housing for 72 people.<\/p>\n

SDHC acquired oversight of the seven-story building in 2011 after engaging in foreclosure proceedings with former owner J&J Properties. During a two-year span, SDHC began assembling a long-term plan for the Churchill site. A year ago, city officials gave the green light to proceed.<\/p>\n

When the doors open to residents by a projected date early in 2016, the historic property \u2014 to be simply renamed The Churchill \u2014 is expected to offer the six-dozen studio apartments to people on or at the verge of homelessness.<\/p>\n

Intended recipients include seniors and veterans. All residents living in the development will be at or below the threshold of San Diego\u2019s area median income, which currently hovers around $28,250 annually, per person.<\/p>\n

As with many housing initiatives aimed at helping homeless and poverty-stricken people get back on their feet, SDHC has been collaborating with a number of local agencies and organizations as the logistics of The Churchill have been fleshed out.<\/p>\n

SDHC, established in 1979 as a public agency, created its own nonprofit affiliate, Housing Development Partners (HDP), in 1990. The two entities have been working in tandem on the Churchill effort the past year, and HDP has been tasked with overseeing the overhaul of the interior of the site.<\/p>\n

Since its creation nearly a quarter century ago, HDP is credited with preserving 1,052 units for the benefit of affordable housing.<\/p>\n

Maria Velasquez, vice president of SDHC\u2019s community relations and communications department, said the partnership has been marked by collaboration because SDHC and HDP are each committed to preserving affordable housing within the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cRenovations of The Churchill are scheduled to begin by the beginning of 2015, after demolition work currently under way is finished,\u201d Velasquez said. \u201cConstruction to rehabilitate The Churchill will be completed by early 2016.\u201d<\/p>\n

Officials involved with the rehabilitation work stress that the timeline toward completion remains fluid. But a progress report released in June revealed the project remains on track for an early 2016 completion.<\/p>\n

In its waning years before being boarded up, SDHC officials assert, Hotel Churchill had fallen into a state of dilapidation after the owners of J&J Properties failed to invest the funds to maintain the building.<\/p>\n

Current estimates point to the rehabilitation project costing upwards of $17 million. A variety of funding sources \u2014 including federal grant dollars \u2014 are going into the effort to transform The Churchill.<\/p>\n

According to a fact sheet from SDHC, $11.196 million in federal funds are to go toward the project. Two specific initiatives \u2014 the Moving to Work rental assistance and Home Investment Partnership programs \u2014 account for the federal grant dollars.<\/p>\n

While some of the specifics are still being ironed out, several additional entities are being solicited to help close the funding gap. Among them: Civic San Diego, County of San Diego\u2019s Mental Health Services Act program and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Richard C. Gentry, president and CEO of SDHC, said partnerships such as The Churchill revitalization effort come to fruition because of strong partnerships within the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlmost nothing SDHC accomplished \u2026 was done single-handedly,\u201d Gentry said.<\/p>\n

In addition to ensuring tenants have a housing future, the revitalization of The Churchill has another layer of certainty \u2014 the building\u2019s vitality. SDHC and HDP\u2019s vision for the site will continue through at least 2078.<\/p>\n

\u201cHotel Churchill will remain permanent affordable housing for the next 65 years under the terms of a proposed ground lease between the SDHC and HDP,\u201d Gentry said in his statement.<\/p>\n

For more information on The Churchill revitalization project, visit SDHC\u2019s website at sdhc.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Dave Fidlin has been a professional journalist for more than a dozen years. He has a special affinity for San Diego and its people. Contact him at <\/i>dave.fidlin@thinkpost.net<\/i><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Effort to transform Downtown\u2019s Hotel Churchill into affordable living underway Dave Fidlin Much like the lives of some of its intended residents, a century-old hotel in the heart of San Diego\u2019s Downtown has a long, storied life that has been filled with trials and triumphs.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":237151,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"A new lease on life","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11547,11551,11600],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-237150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-news","category-sdnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}