Long-planned apartment complex with 176 affordable units coming to north Palm Desert

A new affordable housing complex with 176 apartments available to low-income individuals and families is coming soon to a vacant parcel in north Palm Desert as part of a wave of new homes being built in the area.

Local officials gathered last week to celebrate the groundbreaking of Crossings at Palm Desert Apartments, located on land near the corner of Dick Kelly Drive and Gateway Drive, just a block east of Monterey Avenue.

The project, with a reported total cost of $111.7 million, has been led by Blieu Companies, an affordable housing development group that has done local projects such as the Veterans Village of Cathedral City and the Horizons complex in Indio. Formerly known as Urban Housing Communities, it also recently entered an agreement to develop new affordable housing for low-income households in Rancho Mirage , including a project off Peterson Road for up to 120 units that gives priority to families with a military veteran.

The Crossings at Palm Desert project has been a long time in the making: John Bigley, chief operating officer with Blieu Companies, told The Desert Sun the plans have been in the works since 2007, but downturns in the economy and changes in state housing policies, including the 2012 elimination of local redevelopment agencies, caused repeated delays.

Bigley said the development team is aiming to open the complex in December 2025.

What's in the Crossings at Palm Desert Apartments?

The new development in north Palm Desert will include 176 apartments, the vast majority of which will be available to families and individuals earning between 30% and 80% of the area’s median income, according to Mark Bigley, a vice president with Blieu Companies. That 80% threshold is no more than $74,550 for a family of four in Riverside County, according to state income limits calculated annually.

Another portion of the development will be rent-restricted for those earning less than 30% of the area’s median income, or about $30,000 for a family of four in Riverside County.

The complex will include one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom units in nine buildings. The Crossings project will also have open space, pools, community gardens and “tot lots” for children to play, and its developer plans to team up with Family YMCA of the Desert to offer afterschool programs at the site.

The project was funded through a variety of sources, including bonds, private-sector loans, state tax credits, housing vouchers from Riverside County and about $7.3 million directly from the city of Palm Desert.

What Palm Desert officials said about the affordable housing complex

Officials representing the city, the county and local legislators commended the project during the Thursday groundbreaking ceremony.

Palm Desert Mayor Karina Quintanilla said she sees promise and opportunity in the development, noting that for tenants who are above the 30% median income threshold, rent won’t be free, but rather “that we’re going to customize what your payment will be.”

“When we consider that the fastest-growing rate of the homeless population happens to not only be seniors, but moms with small kids, we don't want to hear of anyone living in their cars,” Quintanilla said. “We want to know that we are creating those spaces for them.”

Paula Simonds, executive director for the local YMCA, also cheered the development and particularly its partnership to provide afterschool programs.

“There's such a great need for quality, safe childcare program services in our valley, and to do it on property in conjunction with the staff that will be here, I think it's a win win for everybody,” Simonds said.

New affordable housing complex is part of wave of Palm Desert growth

The area surrounding the Crossings at Palm Desert is primed for considerable growth in the coming years, with more than 4,500 units either under construction or approved by the city north of Frank Sinatra Drive.

Other projects, such as one for 384 apartments at market-rate prices just across Gateway Drive from the new development, are also under review. That proposal has yet to be considered by the planning commission, according to the city’s projects map .

The new development is also one of several new affordable housing developments underway in Palm Desert. Including the 176 units at Crossings, the city has 1,011 new affordable housing units that are either under construction or in the pipeline at city hall.

Tom Coulter covers the cities of Palm Desert, La Quinta, Rancho Mirage and Indian Wells. Reach him at thomas.coulter@desertsun.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Long-planned apartment complex with 176 affordable units coming to north Palm Desert