> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Housing project’s $1.5M renovation completed
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/housing-projects-1-5m-renovation-completed/
- Published: 2004-01-14T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T03:32:00.000Z
- Author: John Wood
- Tags: Real Estate & Housing, Pico, #archive-import

*Four new affordable complexes in the works for Santa Monica*

A $1.5 million remodel of a large apartment building here has been completed, three years after the property was first purchased.

The improvements are among the most extensive ever performed by officials at the Community Corp. of Santa Monica, a nonprofit that converts old buildings and constructs new affordable housing projects throughout the city.

“It’s that same footprint, but it’s practically a new building,” said Sue Keintz, the director of housing development at Community Corp. “We just replaced everything.”

Though the nonprofit has been criticized for dumping projects in the Pico neighborhood — an area historically prone to crime and violence — Keintz said even though the nonprofit was founded in the Pico neighborhood, projects aren’t concentrated there.

“The facts speak for themselves,” said Keintz, also a homeowner in the Pico neighborhood. “Our affordable housing is located all over the city of Santa Monica, from the north to the south border and from the west to the east border...

“If you imagine this corporation’s development of affordable housing, it started there — it was the rosebud, if you will, and then it blossomed out from there.”

Maria Loya, a board member of the Pico Neighborhood Association, said she supports affordable housing projects throughout Santa Monica — including in the Pico neighborhood.

“Affordable housing doesn’t need to mean gang members, it doesn’t need to mean problems with drugs or anything like that,” she said. “The fact is, people deserve to have affordable housing and we support that opportunity.”

> “Affordable housing doesn’t need to mean gang members, it doesn’t need to mean problems with drugs or anything like that.” — — MARIA LOYA Board member, PNA

Bought by the nonprofit in 2000, the building was treated for termites, underwent a complete seismic retrofit and plumbing was replaced from lines to faucet. Also installed was a new foam roof, double-pane windows, sliding doors, individual patios, landscaping, lighting, security gates and a facade designed by local architect Peter Schechter.

New kitchens and bathrooms also were added to some of the units in the course of renovating the 38-unit building. With the project’s final completion last year, the Pico neighborhood is home to some 400-plus Community Corp. apartments.

“Most of our other renovations are smaller in size,” said Robin Raida, the project manager at 2112-2120 Delaware Ave. “This was more in line with the new construction projects.”

CCSM, which owns 78 properties in Santa Monica, has spent more than $150 million buying and upgrading real estate in Santa Monica since it was formed in 1982\. It owns 1,182 rental units citywide and plans to build 179 more in the next four years.

Those projects include a 50-unit building to be built at 3021 Santa Monica Blvd., a 44-unit building to be built at Santa Monica Boulevard and 26th Street, a 41-unit building at Broadway and 16th Street and a 44-unit building at Main and Pacific streets.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 14, 2004.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/011404.pdf?ref=smdp.com)