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A San Mateo County collaborative effort has acquired an apartment complex for $54.8 million to provide housing for teachers and other education staff.
The purchase of the 74-unit Azara community at 1650 S. Delaware St. in San Mateo marks the first educator workforce housing project for the San Mateo County Office of Education (SMCOE).
“We’ve been working on this for about three years,” Hugo Torres, president of the San Mateo County Board of Education, told the Pulse. “We viewed multiple properties before getting to this point, and we are just so excited to finally reach the finish line of making this possible for educators in the county.”
The acquisition, announced Tuesday, Sept. 15, during a press conference at the SMCOE headquarters in Redwood City, involved the countywide group Housing Endowment and Regional Trust (HEART).
Under the agreement, HEART bought the apartment building, with SMCOE providing a loan from a fund account reserved only for facilities. HEART issued bonds to cover the project’s remaining cost.
“The property was offered for sale by the owner and HEART submitted an offer,” Armando Sanchez, the group’s executive director, said in an email to the Pulse. “The sale price was $54,750,000. HEART is the owner of the property and will operate it for the long-term benefit of SMCOE. HEART received an $8 million loan from SMCOE and issued bonds for the balance.”
The building was built in 2021 and does not need renovations, Sanchez said.
It will provide housing for teachers, paraeducators, counselors and other school employees who serve students in SMCOE programs, HEART and county education leaders said in a news release.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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