Construction is underway in southeast Napa as a new apartment complex is being built, along with another route for motorists to get to Silverado Trail.
The work is happening on the Trail where it merges with Soscol Avenue.
“There are two projects going on,” said Napa City Senior Planner Scott Klingbeil. “One is a city public works project to extend Saratoga Drive to the Trail. The other is the construction of Alexander Crossing apartment complex.”
The extension of Saratoga Drive will allow traffic another route from Terrace Drive and Shurtleff Avenue to Silverado Trail. Motorists no longer will have to drive to Coombsville Road to get to the Trail, Klingbeil said.
The new apartment complex will have 135 apartments, 27 of them will be low-income housing.
“There will be 41 one-bedrooms, 74 two-bedrooms and 20 three-bedrooms units,” Klingbell said. “The project also calls for 278 parking places.”
Klingbeil said right now crews are preparing the ground for construction, which has not yet begun.
“They are waiting for the building permit to be issued. It’s not a question of if, just when the permit is issued,” Klingbeil said. “I am not sure of the timeline.”
The construction of the complex has been in motion since 2010, Klingbeil said.
“The developer originally requested a permit about two years ago. There was a lawsuit, which delayed going forward with the project. Then it was resubmitted in November 2011,” Klingbeil said.
St. Anton Partners, Sacramento, is the developers of the multi-apartment complex.
“The ban on weekend construction and the slow city permit (process) has delayed the project for months,” Ardie Zahedani, development vice president, said in an email. “With some flexibility the project would have been completed (by now) and the safety and nuisance issues would be gone.”
The email also stated, “We’re hoping we can work out a solution soon. But for now, the construction won’t be completed until mid-2014.”
Businesses on the section of the Trail where construction is taking place have and will remain open during normal business hours.
The only way to NOT have "project-style" housing that creates the isolation and crime issues you stereotype so well in you comment. Spreading people out instead of lumping them together has been shown in studies to be more effective, and psychologically helpful to the populace, as well as lowering crime rates for the demographics you speak of, by not isolating them in high density housing, trapped like animals to be victims of the true criminals. Think Cabreeni Greens in Chicago (?). They tore it down for a reason. It's not a crime to be poor.