4-story building with 37 affordable-by-design housing units coming to this SLO County city

John Lynch
·3 min read

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The first of several projects slated to add more commercial and residential space along West Grand Avenue broke ground in Grover Beach Thursday morning.

The Palladium mixed-use project developed by Coastal Community Builders will bring 37 affordable-by-design residential units and around 4,700 square feet of commercial space to an empty lot on the southeast corner of the intersection of 4th Street and West Grand Avenue.

According to a February 2023 news release from the city on the project’s approval by the Grover Beach Planning Commission, Coastal Community Builders acquired the lot in 2022, and it was developed in accordance with the Land Use Element policy and West Grand Avenue Master Plan.

Mayor Karen Bright spoke at the groundbreaking event, praising the site’s tight integration with city goals for development along West Grand Avenue.

“We have long envisioned this area being a hub for the city, and it took this type of a project to really kick it off,” Bright told The Tribune. “It’s really exciting to see that West Grand Avenue plan coming to fruition and giving people places to live.”

City manager Matt Bronson said though the master plan was passed in 2011, development has been slow going until this project got into motion in recent years.

“Every community has a project that is the catalyst that defines the future progress of what the community will become,” Bronson said at the groundbreaking. “This project is that catalyst — it’s been a vacant lot for decades, as long as anybody can remember.”

Coastal Community Builders hosted a groundbreaking event for a 37-unit mixed-use project on West Grand Avenue Jan. 25, 2023.
Coastal Community Builders hosted a groundbreaking event for a 37-unit mixed-use project on West Grand Avenue Jan. 25, 2023.

Project advances West Grand Avenue Master Plan

Coastal Community Builders chief operating officer Cam Boyd said the site functionally broke ground in December, and crews have already installed storm drains and done trenching for the foundation and underground plumbing.

Boyd said it will likely take around 18 months to complete the four-story building, which will stand approximately 42 feet high on a 0.69-acre lot.

Because one of the project’s two commercial spaces on the ground floor is larger than the other, Boyd said it would be a good fit for a small restaurant, with cafe or deli occupying the smaller unit.

Boyd said he was glad Coastal Community Builders could be part of a project that would bring new homes to the area.

Grover Beach city government officials and Coastal Community Builders staff hold a groundbreaking event for a 37-unit mixed-use project on West Grand Avenue on Jan. 25, 2023.
Grover Beach city government officials and Coastal Community Builders staff hold a groundbreaking event for a 37-unit mixed-use project on West Grand Avenue on Jan. 25, 2023.

“We’ve got 37 new affordable-by-design units coming into the city, putting people in a beach community closer to the beach, who otherwise might not be able to live here,” Boyd said during the groundbreaking. “I know that’s been a top priority for the city for a very long time, and we’re very excited to be a part of helping make that happen.”

Coastal Community Builders is heavily involved in the city’s West Grand Avenue Master Plan, with plans to add a 59-unit mixed-use project on the northeast corner of the intersection of 4th Street and West Grand Avenue already approved by the Grover Beach Planning Commission in October last year, Boyd said.

A mixed-use development at the intersection of Grand Avenue and Fourth Street in Grover Beach will include 37 affordable-by-design residential units and around 4,700 square feet of commercial space.
A mixed-use development at the intersection of Grand Avenue and Fourth Street in Grover Beach will include 37 affordable-by-design residential units and around 4,700 square feet of commercial space.

That project would bring another 7,000 square feet of commercial space across four ground-floor spots, he said.

The developer is also in the approval process for a third mixed-use project on West Grand Avenue closer to the railroad tracks — consisting of 23 three-story townhomes and two ground level commercial spaces — though the specifics are subject to change, Boyd told The Tribune.

Coastal Community Builders hosted a groundbreaking event for a 37-unit mixed-use project on West Grand Avenue in Grover Beach on Jan. 25, 2023.
Coastal Community Builders hosted a groundbreaking event for a 37-unit mixed-use project on West Grand Avenue in Grover Beach on Jan. 25, 2023.

Bright said she was glad this project and others that were being developed along West Grand Avenue could serve people at the start of their housing journey.

“What I’m so excited about this project is that there will be a number of studios, so people can get into the housing ownership and start out, because if you don’t have a home or some kind of a down payment, you might as well forget ever getting a house,” Bright told The Tribune.