At 41st Avenue and Soquel Drive in Soquel, 256 apartments are proposed. (Tyler Maldonado — Santa Cruz Local)
Last updated: September 2025
Location: 2755-2831 41st Ave., Soquel.
The site is at the southwest corner of 41st Avenue and Soquel Drive.
Status
- Developers received over $115 million in tax credits and a $105 million low-interest loan in August 2025. The project is fully funded and developers are working to secure building permits, with construction expected to begin in January 2026, wrote the project’s development partner Lauren Alexander in September 2025.
- The project was proposed in July 2024.
Property owners and applicants
Pacific West Communities Inc. and Blam-Jade LP are the owners. The project applicants are Pacific West Companies Inc. and Linc Housing Corp.
Project description
- Total units: 253 units plus three manager’s units.
- Unit types: Modular apartments.
- Height: Two five-story buildings over a single level, at-grade podium garage.
- Affordable units: All units are expected to be offered below market rate, including:
- 92 extremely low income units (30% area median income).
- 4 very low income units (50% area median income)
- 157 low income units (70% area median income)
- Amenities: Offices, a fitness center, community room, playground and courtyard space.
- Parking: 258 parking stalls with 225 stalls in mechanical stackers.
Timeline
- A state committee approved about $115 million in tax credits in August 2025, and a $105 million tax-exempt loan from Citibank.
- Prior to 2019, a car wash stood on the property prior and a Nissan dealership was approved on the 2.5-acre site. A lawsuit alleged that county leaders did not look into alternative plans before it was approved, and a judge ruled against the county.
- In response to the lawsuit in October 2019, Santa Cruz County supervisors voted 4-1 to change the zoning to allow the Nissan dealership. Supervisor Zach Friend voted against it, and Supervisors John Leopold, Bruce McPherson, Board Chair Ryan Coonerty and Vice Chair Greg Caput voted for it.
- Despite the approval, plans for the Nissan dealership were eventually withdrawn.
The total cost of the project was estimated at $210 million according to an application for the state and federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit. Each unit was estimated to cost $770,000, which the developer “attributed to a requirement to pay prevailing wages, being in a high cost area, and containing a podium parking structure.”
Proposed rent by unit type and income category are shown in 2025 dollars. (California Tax Credit Allocation Committee)
The land is bound by 41st Avenue and Soquel Drive. (Tyler Maldonado — Santa Cruz Local)
A Nissan dealership had been proposed on the site. (Tyler Maldonado — Santa Cruz Local)
Read more
Questions or comments? Email [email protected]. Santa Cruz Local is supported by members, major donors, sponsors and grants for the general support of our newsroom. Our news judgments are made independently and not on the basis of donor support. Learn more about Santa Cruz Local and how we are funded.