Cypress-based Taisei Construction Corp. is taking advantage of the emerging trend of transit-oriented, affordable and senior housing developments in the greater Los Angeles area by recently breaking ground on two projects.
�It�s a rapidly emerging niche market opportunity for us,� says Robert Carley, vice president of business development for Taisei. �We�ve recently started building two projects and are providing construction cost estimates for a number of others. We see this niche market continuing to expand this year and beyond, providing much needed housing and enhancing local communities.�
Taisei broke ground earlier this month on Las Margaritas Apartments, a three-building, 42-unit affordable-housing project in the Boyle Heights community of East Los Angeles. Peter Tuma, Taisei�s vice president of private sector construction, says the project will be completed in June 2011.
The developer is East Los Angeles Community Corp., a non-profit community development corporation based in East Los Angeles. The architect is Birba Group of Los Angeles.
In March, Taisei broke ground for Path Villas Inglewood, which will provide 20 units of affordable housing for low and moderate-income single and two-parent families, and will contain one-, two- and three-bedroom units.
The developer is Los Angeles-based Path Ventures, a non-profit community development organization that supports and develops permanent housing that is affordable to low-income or homeless persons and families.
The architect is Jeffrey M. Kalban and Associates of Los Angeles.
Tuma says the project will be completed in March.
Taisei has a strong portfolio of large multi-family housing projects, including high-density, market-rate transit-oriented developments such as Wilshire Vermont Station in downtown Los Angeles, and Del Mar Station in Pasadena. With larger projects like these stalled by the recession, Taisei says it has entered the growing affordable-housing arena to offer its extensive building expertise, senior level staff and cost effective team of subcontractors to community based developers building smaller projects in urban areas.
�We�re providing a big league approach to building these affordable housing projects,� says Carley. �We�ve been able to effectively compete in this market by bringing the financial stability, focus on quality, and experienced staffing resources of a mid-size construction company like ours to professionally handle smaller projects. And we�ve got plenty of capacity to handle more work as the economy recovers.�
