If you’ve driven across the Murray Street Bridge toward Live Oak recently, you probably sat in traffic for a while as you passed the Santa Cruz Small Craft Harbor. Further ahead, on the east side of the harbor, you may notice some large, packaged parcels of prefab housing units sitting on a vacant lot at the intersection of Brommer Street and Seventh Avenue.

With so many major construction projects currently underway in Santa Cruz County, your first thought was probably residential construction, followed quickly by confusion over the seemingly random location and the lack of any discussion about a new project in the area.

So it probably makes sense to know that these units aren’t for a brand new project. They’re modular homes for the long-planned Park Haven Plaza project, slated to open in spring 2025 at 2838 Park Avenue in Soquel, which will house homeless veterans, youth from foster care and a limited number of families. Walnut Creek-based Novin Development is managing the project. It’s owned by Park Avenue LP, which includes Santa Cruz County, the Central Valley Coalition for Affordable Housing and Novin Development itself.

In total, Park Haven Plaza is a 36-unit housing project funded by California’s Project Homekey – a billion-dollar-plus federal grant program aimed at developing permanent housing units. All but one of the units is public housing, with the remaining unit to serve as housing for a manager. The project received a $10.7 million grant from Project Homekey in 2022.

As the groundbreaking process progressed, the project faced significant opposition from local residents, particularly those living near the project site in Aptos, Soquel and Capitola. Many of them felt that the details of the project were decided behind the scenes and poorly communicated to the public. Others raised concerns about the environmental damage the project could cause, emergency access, fire safety, lack of parking and potential mental health issues among the project’s tenants.

Manu Koenig, district manager for the 1st District, did not respond to Lookout’s request for comment by press time, but at a meeting with frustrated residents in 2022, he said he understood the concerns raised but saw the project as a type of housing that would help veterans, homeless families and youth leaving foster care programs – the population the project is designed to serve.

The project was originally scheduled to be completed by May of this year, but storms in 2023 caused some delay. Novin Development teams have completed the first concrete pour for the foundation of the final complex.

Iman Novin, president and CEO of Novin Development, said he expects workers to begin installing the modular units on the Park Avenue site in late September after some utility work is completed, adding that tenants will be welcomed shortly thereafter.

“Part of the timeline depends on whether PG&E can turn on the power, and that’s always kind of a question mark,” he said. “But at that point we should be ready to lease.”

Novin said leasing — the process of renting out all the units in a new building to reach full occupancy — will be done through the county’s coordinated access system, which uses assessments and planning tools to reach as many homeless people as possible from all walks of life. “That includes referrals through the Housing Authority, the Veterans Administration and Housing for Health,” Novin said. “So it’s a collaborative effort.”

The 35 affordable housing units will be divided into categories, Novin said. Seventeen apartments will be reserved for homeless veterans, 14 apartments for homeless young adults and four apartments for homeless families with children.

Novin said the total cost of the project had not yet been determined due to “escalating incidental costs,” but estimated it at $22 million to $25 million.

If all goes according to plan, Novin hopes to complete the project by late March or early April 2025.

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