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6.1.E. - Page 2 <br />to purchase the adjacent parcels. The development of affordable housing at this site <br />has been a longstanding goal of the City with an accessory childcare center as an <br />important component. In 2016, the City Council selected MidPen Housing as the <br />developer partly due to their commitment to include 8,000 s.f. of childcare space along <br />with 117 units of affordable senior housing. <br />The project, now named Arroyo Green, offers unique opportunities for intergenerational <br />programming to benefit both seniors and young children. MidPen's architects have <br />engaged a childcare design specialist to plan a high quality facility, including required <br />playgrounds and open space. Footsteps Child Care, the proposed operator, expects to <br />serve 70 children from infant to preschool age, in five classrooms. MidPen's request for <br />use of the available childcare funds is provided in Attachment 2. <br />ANALYSIS <br />MidPen Housing has estimated the cost of build -out of the childcare space at <br />approximately $3,000,000. Financing sources for the affordable, senior housing <br />component do not support development of the childcare space. The selected operator, <br />Footsteps Child Care, will raise funds for equipment, furnishings and start-up related <br />costs. The requested $700,000.00 would cover approximately 23% of the funds <br />necessary to build out this space. Granting of these funds to this child care center is <br />consistent with recent City Council policy direction. In addition, this would help fill the <br />general need for childcare within Redwood City. A recent study showed a significant <br />shortage of childcare facilities in the City, as well as County -wide. This 8,000 square <br />foot space would accommodate approximately 70 children. <br />In addition to this development, there are three larger development applications <br />currently proposing childcare centers: Stanford in Redwood City, Sobrato's Broadway <br />Plaza project and Greystar's 1601 EI Camino project. Stanford's childcare center is <br />currently under construction, while Sobrato's and Greystar's projects are in the planning <br />review stages. All of these developments are large enough and have the funding <br />sources necessary to construct the child care centers without requesting City funds. <br />ALTERNATIVES <br />The City Council may decide not to approve allocation of the available funds to this <br />project. In that case, the funds would remain available for a future childcare project. <br />FISCAL IMPACT <br />The $700,000.00 has been collected from developers, and is available specifically for <br />this type of use. These funds remain in the "unassigned" portion of the Community <br />Benefits Fund, and are available to support this appropriation. <br />