Construction on the Battery Point Apartments in Crescent City is expected to resume in the coming weeks after months of delays caused by storms, water damage and construction challenges.
Battery Point will include 162 units, with a mix of workforce housing for families, apartments for low-income seniors and two units for managers.
Project leaders say the goal is to provide housing in Del Norte County, which has experienced one of the highest population declines in the country.
Construction stalled after storms caused water damage and prevented site work. Additional delays came from unexpected seismic remediation needs, according to Bill Rice, president of Synergy Community Development Corp., the project’s developer.
"All these things create kind of a cycle of slowing the process for what we desperately want to deliver, [which] is quality affordable housing for those senior residents because there's huge demand for it," he said.
The original geotechnical report incorrectly listed the soil conditions on the site, Rice said. That meant more work had to be done to strengthen the structures, especially the apartments for seniors, which are modular construction.
Crews had to remove the entire bottom floor of each module, lift the structures so workers could reinforce them with new steel beams and then replace the flooring.
"None of these were intentional errors," Rice said. "But they were cascading items that put a real delay in the development."
The added work increased costs. Developers secured an additional $9.7 million this week, bringing the total project cost to more than $100 million from state, federal and private sources.
Battery Point is now about a year behind schedule. Rice said he expects to resume in the next couple of weeks, with a planned opening date in mid- to late-2027.
The nonprofit Step Forward Communities will oversee services for residents there, including a free mobile dental clinic, playgrounds, picnic tables and community rooms.
All 40 senior units will include rental assistance.
A quarter of the 120 family apartments, from one to four bedrooms, will have rental assistance. The remaining units will serve families earning between 60 and 70% of the area's median income.
Some local residents aren't thrilled that the project will offer rental assistance.
"What you're creating is a monster situation here in Del Norte County," former Del Norte County Supervisor Roger Gitlin said at a recent Crescent City city council meeting. "We're going to be a big city of poor people very soon."
Rice said the project is intended to keep residents from being priced out of the region and highlighted the site's proximity to downtown, schools, the ocean and the redwood forests.
"There are always going to be folks that are against change," he said. "But change done in partnership and thought through strategically can really make a big difference."
