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For the second time in recent months, proposed student housing in the emerging Folsom Boulevard area near California State University Sacramento is giving way to another concept.
At 6661 Folsom Blvd., Boise, Idaho-based SMR Development has proposed a five-story, 130-unit affordable project where a 143-unit student housing project was proposed less than two years ago. The new project would be called 69th Street Apartments.
An email sent to SMR Development CEO Shellan Rodriguez, listed as the applicant, was not immediately returned Tuesday. Rodriguez, who does not appear to have done any previous projects in the Sacramento region, appears to be working on behalf of CRP Affordable Housing and Community Development from Los Angeles.
Plans filed in the application show 30 one-bedroom, 60 two-bedroom and 40 three-bedroom units, ranging from 619 to 1,036 square feet.
There would be 65 parking spaces, 18 of them for electric vehicle charging or accessible for electric charging, and 78 bike parking spaces, both on-site and in the neighborhood.
Other project features include a 2,545-square-foot community room, 2,834-square-foot dog run and two upper-floor courtyards that total 7,910 square feet.
The application does not specify income levels for the project, typically set as a percentage of the area median income, which is $70,684 in Sacramento County. BSB Design in Gold River is the project architect.
SMR Development is seeking approval under a process for ministerial review of infill affordable projects, intended to approve such proposals more quickly. The snag for affordable housing projects is often finding construction financing, which can take far longer than getting entitlements.
in 2020, Opus Development Co. of Minnetonka, Minnesota proposed a project called Opus at Folsom and Elvas at the same location as the new project. Opus at Folsom and Elvas, with 376 beds, would've been six stories tall.
City records show that project, resubmitted in spring 2021 to have only 137 units, did get city approval in November 2021 but went no further.
An inquiry about that project sent Tuesday to Opus through its website was not immediately returned. The property itself is owned by an entity affiliated with Sacramento-based Sacramento Drilling Inc., according to real estate data website Reonomy.