The Antelope Valley Times

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RAAM Construction breaks ground on $33.3M affordable housing development in Palmdale

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Rendering of the Juniper Grove development, located at 150 East Avenue R in Palmdale. [Courtesy RAAM Construction.]
PALMDALE – RAAM Construction, a general building construction firm specializing in multifamily and historic preservation projects throughout California, has broken ground on the construction of an affordable multifamily housing development in Palmdale.

The 123,410 square-foot property, Juniper Grove, will consist of 101 apartment units in a three-story wood-frame building, according to Richard Lara, President and CEO of RAAM Construction.

“The need for affordable multifamily housing continues to grow significantly, especially now due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” Lara said. “This demand for affordable housing is extremely prevalent in Palmdale, as occupied housing units currently sit at 92.4 percent. Juniper Grove will greatly serve the local community by providing families with brand-new, beautifully designed residential units that fit within their budgets.”

RAAM is working closely with Meta Housing Corporation, a developer of affordable housing communities for families and seniors, to deliver the new residences for qualified low-income families in the Palmdale market. Valued at $33,342,717, the project is being developed with the help of a construction loan from the City of Palmdale, Pacific Western Bank and the Los Angeles County Development Authority.

During the project’s design phase, RAAM was able to provide the developer with pre-construction services to ensure that the design was in line with the budget, according to Lara.

“We make it a point to go over every detail of the scope of work and carefully review and understand the site plans from the earliest stages to craft an accurate project schedule and budget,” Lara said. “In addition, we determine the materials needed to ensure that our manufacturers can get us all project materials on time. By utilizing our deep vendor relationships, we are often able to achieve the best price point for our clients to also help drive down construction costs and stay within budget.”

When construction is completed, Juniper Grove will contain 49 one-bedroom apartments, 27 two-bedroom apartments and 25 three-bedroom apartments that are fully furnished. The three-story wood frame building will be built to LEED standards and will have solar panels. The development will also include common-area amenities such as a community room, office area and an art studio, which will be occupied by a full-time art staff offering art lessons. The multifamily property will also offer plenty of open spaces for a playground and visitors, as outdoor space has become increasingly important in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The need for affordable housing has always been top of mind, especially in California; however, that need has accelerated in the last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” Lara said. “With that in mind, we continue to work with developers and architects to provide outdoor spaces and other COVID-friendly amenities for which demand has heightened.”

The development is situated in close proximity to the Antelope Valley Freeway. Additionally, the development is located near In-N-Out Burger, McDonalds and Jack-in-the-Box, and near Palm Tree Elementary School and Yucca Elementary School.

Juniper Grove is expected to be completed in June 2022. The development is located at 150 East Avenue R in Palmdale.

[Information via news release from RAAM Construction.]

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Filed Under: Home, Palmdale

31 comments for "RAAM Construction breaks ground on $33.3M affordable housing development in Palmdale"

  1. So what’s low income to them ????
    If it’s fully furnished it’s not low income ( nice try )

    Only in palmdale

  2. I think everyone needs to chill out with these comments.

    Affordable housing is needed everywhere. In case you haven’t noticed, it takes two strong incomes to be able to afford a mortgage on a single family home now.

    Three miles to the north of this location, Beazer is building it’s “Cottages” collection next to Country Club Estates and the Rancho Vista Retirement home, and those cottages are starting at the high $400,000 range with tiny lot sizes. Most single working people cannot afford that.

    Affordable housing is good for single income households from a variety of career fields. There are medical office workers, dental assistants, LVNs, book keepers, janitorial staff, school support workers, etc. — all very good solid people with good jobs but just cannot afford a $400,000 mortgage on their own. It is for these very people that affordable housing is needed.

  3. When new it’s called affordable housing…..after its been there for a few years and in horrible condition it will be called a housing project. Welp!!!

  4. New, cheap rent, fully furnished. Makes me wonder why I work hard for what we have when they just give it for free.

    • It’s affordable housing, not free housing. Do you prefer they end up living on the streets? You’d complain about that as well. You are not the only one works to provide for their family, be fortunate that you can provide for them. I bet you work for the government and suck on the government’s tit and you barely do your job and complain about coworkers or work loads. Go take a nap Karen.

    • They will be forced to take section 8, as it pays equal or greater than market rate. Then it will go to crap after a couple of years…look at 47th and R by 62th…was nice when new in 2006 but majority is section 8 now, looks like crap…wouldn’t want to live there anymore. many places like this all throughout AV

  8. Super excited about the selfish city planners and their grand cavalcade of [removed] decisions. You are systematically destroying the antelope valley. Congratulations on your monument to yourselves.

    • @DS…Affordable housing is destroying the city? So you prefer homelessness as the favorable alternative? I don’t wanna break your heart, but Palmdale isn’t exactly a nice place anyway.

      • @EXAV, so “Palmdale isn’t exactly a nice place anyway” that’s why its ok to add more crap on the residence of Palmdale? I hope it works out and planned but…….

    • DS: I don’t know how long you have lived in Palmdale. I have lived in and around the A.V. since 1956, came to Edwards first, and I have seen an explosion of people coming up here for decades. People like you, that somewhere along the line you have drawn the line as to how many people are too many. We thought there were too many people coming here in 1962. Times they are a changin’ D.S.

    • I recently came across this article and I’ve too have wondered why do our city planners insit on supporting builder’s that only construct brand new apartments for the extremely low income but nothing for our working class families who’s income level is to high for low income housing and can’t afford a 400,000 + mortgage??? But let someone offer low income/ free housing and they’re all over it!!!

  12. 33M for 101 apartments is 325k per unit. You can pick up a single family home for that cost.

  13. Hope this construction project will have parking space for 3 to 5 autos per family
    BECAUSE the rent is very expensive for a single family so they need to have more people help to pay. And is going the streets
    Full of cars.

  14. “Additionally, the development is located near In-N-Out Burger, McDonalds and Jack-in-the-Box…”

    That sounds really healthy and nutritious.

    • If it’s going to be part of low income housing it will only bring more crime to palmdale.