Originally published RAHD Group, Catholic Charities Partner on Cerro Pueblo Apartments on by https://www.sdbj.com/real-estate/rahd-group-catholic-charities-partner-on-cerro-pueblo-apartments/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rahd-group-catholic-charities-partner-on-cerro-pueblo-apartments at San Diego Business Journal
https://www.sdbj.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/image183-150x150.jpg
SAN DIEGO – An affordable housing developer, RAHD Group, has teamed up with Catholic Charities, on a $17.7 million project to convert an apartment complex in Bay Park into permanent housing for low-incomed elderly tenants.
‘It’s a great project in that Bay Park area,” said Tim Walsh, a partner at RAHD Group.
“It’s in our backyard. We have other projects close to it,” Walsh said. “We were able to get in and acquire the building. Part of our mission is to preserve and support affordable housing.”
The 46-unit complex at 2835 Clairemont Drive, renamed Cerro Pueblo Apartments, had been designated as low-income housing but was in danger of losing the designation when it was put up for sale in 2022.
“It was what we call at risk,” Walsh said. “We knew we could have significant community impact if we could keep it from losing its affordability.”
The complex was fully occupied when RAHD Group bought it, Walsh said.
With RAHD’s purchase of the Cerro Pueblo, the affordable designation is safe for 55 years, Walsh said, adding that it’s not uncommon for such complexes to lose the affordable guarantee and revert to market-rate.
“It happens more than you think. There’s been a lot of legislative and policy efforts to prevent this from happening,” Walsh said. “You have deed restricted projects that come to the end of their restriction.”
The apartments in Cerro Pueblo are earmarked for low-income tenants aged 62 and over with annual incomes of 30% to 60% of the Area Median Income, and five apartments were set aside for tenants with disabilities.
“About 80% of our portfolio is for seniors. We specialize in that,” Walsh said.
The 2025 AMI for San Diego County, as determined by the federal government, is $130,800.
Built in 1982, the complex “was tired and needed some work,” Walsh said.
The renovation included adding new roofs, a recreation room with a community kitchen, restrooms, a service coordinator’s office, laundry rooms, new flooring, new fixtures, new tiles, new bathroom vanities, new kitchen cabinets, new appliances and new windows throughout the complex.
More to Projects Come
“It’s a heavy renovation,” Walsh said. “All the interiors were fully redone by us. All the emergency systems were renewed and updated. Everything had to be brought up to code.
The elevators had to be modernized so they don’t break down. It’s classic in these buildings that were built in the early 80s like this one. Buildings only last so long.”
Cosmetic improvements included brightening up the complex with a new color palette of bright white, cream, light blues and gray replacing the tan and beige that was popular when the apartments were built.
“It just had a very 1982 look to it, the color scheme that was popular then,” Walsh said.
Tenants had to be temporarily relocated to a nearby hotel, “because you’re not just putting up paint and spackling.”
Catholic Charities will provide on-site social service through a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development grant and Royal Property Management Group, based in Rancho Bernardo, oversees the property.
“Ensuring affordable housing is available to low-income seniors is a critical step forward, but it’s only the beginning,” said Vino Pajanor, CEO of Catholic Charities.
RAHD previously partnered with Catholic Charities in a 2024 joint venture in the $93-million renovation of the 16-story Cathedral Plaza downtown apartment tower at 1551 3rd Ave.
“We have more projects coming and we’re going to do this exact kind of thing again,” Walsh said.
RAHD Group
FOUNDED: 2010
HEADQUARTERS: Mission Valley
PARTNERS: Tim Walsh, Colin Rice, Casey Haeling and Dave Beacham
BUSINESS: affordable housing development
EMPLOYEES: 5
WEBSITE: www.rahdgroup.com
CONTACT: [email protected]
NOTABLE: RAHD Group has developed more than 2,500 housing units.
A native of New England, Ray Huard has been a reporter at newspapers in California, Florida and New England, including The (Jacksonville) Florida Times-Union, the Miami Herald, the Palm Beach Post in West Palm Beach, the San Diego Union-Tribune, the North County Times, and the San Diego Business Journal. He has covered a wide variety of beats including real estate, politics, science, the environment, state and city government and courts.
Originally published San Diego Business Journal
