Roseville to sell downtown land to affordable housing developer

The Abridged version:

• The Roseville City Council voted Wednesday to sell two parcels of downtown land to Eden Housing, one of California’s largest affordable housing development nonprofits.
• Potential project plans include 58 units of senior affordable housing and a residential parking lot, if future applications for plans, permits and funding are approved.
• The sale agreement is not dependent on Eden Housing securing financing or developing affordable housing according to existing plans, but developers have expressed a commitment to following through.

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Downtown Roseville could add a new affordable housing complex, thanks to a unanimous City Council vote to sell city-owned land to developers.

At the site, which sits near the Roseville Public Library and Royer Park, developers intend to build Creekside Seniors at Royer, a 58-unit senior affordable housing project. Eden Housing, one of California’s largest affordable housing development nonprofits, will have two parcels of land totaling 1.17 acres once the sale is finalized in January 2027.

The $580,000 sale agreement is not contingent on whether developers can come up with financing for the project, but company representatives at the Wednesday council meeting expressed confidence in their ability to fund it.

“There’s going to be trials and tribulations with financing affordable housing, but we feel good about this site and we’re going to make it happen as soon as we can,” Eden Housing real estate director Charles Liuzzo said.

Affordable housing plans

In a proposal submitted to the city last year, Eden Housing specified that the housing community would serve seniors making 30% to 60% of the area median income, with studio and one-bedroom apartments available.

The building would sit on one land parcel located on 505 Royer St., while the adjacent parcel on 300 Taylor St. will be used as a parking lot.

The 505 Royer St. parcel has not been used for any purpose for over a decade. The site previously hosted the Placer County courthouse until 2009, and the county later sold the property to Roseville in 2014. At the time, the city intended to renovate and repurpose the building, but officials’ analyses eventually showed that proposed upgrades weren’t cost effective.

Ten years after the property was last used by county courts, Roseville demolished it to make way for future private development, declaring the parcels surplus land. The site has been eyed as an affordable housing development site for years, and Roseville previously contracted with another housing company for its sale and development. But when developers were unable to come up with funding sources, plans fell through.

The sale agreement does not require Eden Housing to follow through with their plans to build an entirely affordable housing complex. Though the eventual property covenant will include an affordability requirement in line with state and local laws — a minimum 15% of units must be affordable if at least 10 residences are built — the company may still develop it as a mixed-use site, or even sell the land to another entity without developing anything.

Councilmember Bruce Houdesheldt, who ultimately voted to approve the sale, expressed concern that plans could potentially fail to take shape, given past incidents where affordable housing plans have fallen through in Roseville.

“There was an affordable housing project there that didn’t come to fruition,” Houdesheldt said. “It’s a beautiful site. I would hope that comes to fruition in the future.”

Eden Housing’s existing portfolio, which includes one affordable complex underway in Sacramento, almost entirely serves low- and middle-income households.

After the land purchase is finalized, Eden Housing will still need to obtain proposal approvals, building permits, funding from multiple sources and other permissions to commence construction. The developers’ 2025 proposal shows that residential construction could potentially begin in 2029.