Child care and housing project to break ground

Laura Sturza

MEDIA DISTRICT NORTH -- Working parents frustrated by a lack of child

care options will have another one when a new center -- set to break

ground this month -- opens.

In a partnership between the city and developer M. David Paul and

Associates, the center will offer services for 92 children. Alongside it

be new homes for moderate-income families who qualify financially. The

project, called The Cottages, is expected to be completed by April 2003

near the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport.

The child care center will be operated by a yet-unnamed nonprofit

corporation, and will offer as many as 20% of the spaces at subsidized

rates.

“There is such a need for high quality child care in Burbank, and

particularly in the infant and toddler area,” city Child Care Committee

member Deane Phinney said.

A 1999 study showed that 2,434 Burbank infants and toddlers needed day

care, compared to 173 available spaces. The parents of 3,710 Burbank

preschoolers vied for 1,818 openings at that time, officials said.

Half of the 20 homes will be designated as affordable housing and sell

for $190,000. The other 10 will be sold at fair market value, with any

profits more than $240,000 to be shared by the developer and the city.

The three-story single-family homes will have up to three bedrooms. Land

and improvements at the 200 blocks of North Ontario and North Fairview

streets will cost the city $3.4 million, with the developer spending

another $4.6 million.

While Senior Redevelopment Project Manager Jack Lynch said there is

not much profit potential in this project for a developer, M. David Paul

was picked from three applicants who responded to the city’s call for

proposals.

“It presented itself as a great opportunity for the company to get

involved in affordable homes,” the developer’s Project Manager Paul

Krueger said. “Before the (Redevelopment) agency removed the buildings,

it was a collection of deteriorated apartments and single family homes.”

M. David Paul’s other local projects include The Pinnacle and Media

Studios North.