WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

"Thank you for always helping me and also being available nights and weekends."
- Ruth Chou

"My family and I are really appreciative and thankful for all your hard work in helping us obtain our first home."
- Tan Nguyen

Jacqueline Quach, a resident at Armstrong Place Senior Housing, was recently interviewed on KTSF Cantonese Journal. Originally from Viet Nam, Jacqueline was one of the first residents of the award-winning Armstrong Place building. Her daughter lives just across the breezeway at Armstrong Townhomes! Watch the interview and hear why Jacqueline is loving life at Armstrong! Interview in Cantonese.
Click to watch the video.

S.F.'s Bayview institutions reflect past, future

The Armstrong Townhomes community is part of the award-winning Armstrong Place, which also includes a beautiful new senior housing complex. A recent story in the San Francisco Chronicle features interviews with Armstrong Place Senior Housing residents Jacqueline Quach and Vincent Barb. (By the way, Jacqueline’s daughter lives just across the breezeway at Armstrong Townhomes!) Watch their video interviews and meet a few of the interesting people living at Armstrong!

Soon after winning a national AIA award and celebrating its Grand Opening, Armstrong Place was featured on Business and Lifestyle on KTSF-26. Program host Keyi Chang asked architect Kevin Wilcock and sales manager Margaret Liu about the features that have made Armstrong Place so popular. With family homes at Armstrong Townhomes in the same community as Armstrong Place Seniors Apartments, it’s an opportunity for affordable, stylish multigeneration living. Come for a visit soon! In the meantime, click to view the program. Mandarin and English.

Armstrong Place Senior and Family Housing | Notes of Interest

This complex development fills a formerly industrial city block with an innovative housing mix: affordable, urban townhomes to keep growing families in the city, and family townhomes adjacent to senior apartments to prevent seniors from living in isolation.

The senior building, with 116 rental units, serves as the anchor; it houses neighborhood-serving retail and presents an iconic tower at the corner. The LEED-Gold-Registered building features many complementary green strategies, including storm-water management, solar arrays, and healthy interiors.

To reflect the traditionally African-American population, the building incorporates Afro-centric design elements: a “quilt wall” inspired by African textiles wraps the public face, and the courtyard walls are inset with Ashanti symbols representing wisdom, unity, and hope.

A pedestrian-oriented, landscaped mews connects the building to the neighboring family townhouses, designed for first-time homebuyers.

The family development consists of 124 stacked townhouses in two mirrored U-shaped buildings and a row of duplexes that buffers the homes from the adjacent train tracks.

Connected to the city streets through stoops and balconies, the main buildings wrap the central court, which serves as a mid-block passage and neighborhood amenity. The courtyard features active uses for all ages, including vegetable gardens, outdoor seating, a rain garden, and picnic and play areas.

Additional Credits
Associate Architecture Firms: Full Circle Architecture; TSH International Architecture + Design
Contractors: Nibbi Brothers General Contractors; Roberts Obayashi Corporation
Landscape Architect: Adrienne Wong Associates
Lighting Consultant: Horton Lees Brogden
Structural Engineers: Structural Design Engineers; OLMM Consulting Engineers

Photo Credit: © Brian Rose

A news crew from KTSF, San Francisco’s Chinese language television station, spent some time at Armstrong Townhomes recently. In an interview with Host Keyi Chang, sales manager Margaret Liu gives a great overview of requirements to purchase—including income limits and a helpful down payment assistance program. Keyi also talks with two Armstrong homeowners. Give a listen, then come tour the community for yourself! Mandarin and English.

Some 200 residents, friends and neighbors welcomed in the Year of the Rabbit at the Armstrong Townhomes Chinese New Year Celebration. The event brought a treasured San Francisco tradition to one of its newest neighborhoods. Activities included traditional lion dancers, a tea ceremony, fortune telling and live music and dance by the Alice Wave band. A festive afternoon was enjoyed by all!

Supervisor Malia Cohen (right) recently hosted a Community Appreciation Event at the Bayview Opera House. Among the participants were Mayor Lee, the Bayview Merchants Association and some 200 members of the community. Our own Michelle La Flue (left) provided information about the affordable homebuying opportunities at Armstrong Townhomes. Later that afternoon, Michelle and the rest of the Armstrong Townhomes sales staff hosted a dessert party in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. in the Community Room.

The need to put up homes near modes of transport is nothing new but in today’s slow economy a TOD has to be positioned and priced right in order to succeed. Bridge Housing Corporation, one of California’s leading developers of affordable homes, finds success with a new TOD near San Francisco and nets 17 sales to date. However, John Ross Condominiums is in REO status, despite being located in public transport-friendly Portland, Ore. Looks like Comstock Partners is on the right track with its suburban TOD in Fairfax County, Va., which will become one of the most sought-after destinations for Washington, D.C., and Baltimore commuters.

The U.S. light rail system saw its biggest increase of about 8.3% in public transit riders last year, accounting for about 1 billion trips. Chances are this number will grow and firms are poised to meet the expected housing demand near transit connecting to employment corridors. What’s more, living in a TOD makes sense in these times of rising gas prices and traffic nightmares. Bogged down under the weight of constant congestion, big cities look to governments for that extra boost to expedite construction of new developments. There’s no doubt that monies spent on new development driven by transportation services far outweighs costs to install it. In Washington D.C., new transit expansions have helped to produce over $15B of real estate development in the last 20 years. This, in turn, generated $2.1B in tax revenues for the Commonwealth of Virginia. The good news? Calculations show that properties within walking distance of transit systems sell for up to 20% to 25% more than comparable homes located further away.

It’s not often such deals come along, but Bridge Housing offers qualified low- and median-income folks a chance to purchase a home in San Francisco’s sought after Bayview District. The Armstrong Place Townhomes, located one block from a connection to downtown at Muni Third Street Light Rail Stop, contains homes priced from $166,300 to $356,700 that target working families. The majority of these families are lifelong renters, but at Armstrong Place, they now have the opportunity to qualify for a new home. Since opening in August, Armstrong Place has transformed the Bayview neighborhood, bringing a more vibrant energetic feel to the area. Considering industry challenges and end-of-the-year slowdown, traffic remains solid at 30 to 40 units/week, resulting in the sales of 17 of the 124 townhomes. There is very little competition in the area other than older homes built in the 1940s and 1950s in dire need of remodeling, and priced from the low $400Ks. It’s no surprise that demand is high with 100 applications being processed. Project funding comes from Bridge Housing and and the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency along with a construction loan from Bank of America.

Bridge Housing Corp.’s Armstrong Place Townhomes, a 124-unit transit-oriented development in San Francisco’s Bayview district, has seen 15 sales recently at the newly opened family-focused residential community, one block from a Muni Third Street light rail stop.

The homes are being offered to qualified low- and median-income buyers earning 60-100 percent of the area’s median income at significantly reduced prices. The units range from $166,000 to $356,000 and have attracted homebuyers who are drawn to the community’s large floor plans. More than half of the 124 townhomes have three or four bedrooms, according to the developer.

Part of the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency’s Affordable Homeownership Program, Armstrong Place is being built in conjunction with the adjacent Armstrong Senior Housing development. The project was designed by David Baker and Partners Architects of San Francisco.

“With home buyer tax credits still available, this is an excellent opportunity to make the leap to homeownership at a high-quality property such as Armstrong Place Townhomes,” said Fred Blackwell, executive director of the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency.”