Affordable housing options coming to Glendale

Greenlight Communities recently broke ground on two of its newest affordable living communities — Cabana Aldea and Streamliner Aldea — in the heart of Glendale. 

They are within 2 miles of Westgate, State Farm Stadium, VAI Resort and Mattel Amusement Park. 

“I’m very happy to see what we are doing in our community on behalf of all those who will benefit from (these) initiatives,” Phoenix Councilwoman Betty Guardado said. “I wanted to extend my sincerest gratitude. (Greenlight’s) vision and tireless efforts are making a real difference in people’s lives. 

“Together we can create a more inclusive and thriving city for everyone.”

Both Streamliner Aldea and Cabana Aldea represent the first affordable housing projects in the area. They are the second and third projects in the Aldea Master Plan of Glendale. 

In total, there will be just under 600 new combination units, offering studio, single and double bedrooms, coming with the project — 282 at Streamliner and 257 at Cabana. The starting prices for the units are $1,099 and $1,299 for Streamliner and Cabana, respectively. 

“After 20 years of apartment or condominium development, Phoenix, my partners and I shifted our focus to attainable workforce apartments in 2017,” said Dan Richards, partner at Greenlight Communities. “To fill the void of housing for the missing middle, Greenlight Communities was born. We leaned on our industry experts, subcontractors, engineers and property managers to design attainable apartments from a blank sheet of paper. We started from scratch. 

“That was to ensure that we could deliver the most efficient, cost-effective and enjoyable housing option for Arizona’s working families.”

With the property value in the area seeming to skyrocket due to the existing and pending revenue drivers, it was a question as to how these communities could maintain competitive pricing for the units. Richards highlighted that Greenlight has an abundance of resources to offer some of the lowest prices in the area.

“It takes a lot of discipline,” he said. “We had to find an underutilized piece of land that makes sense from a financial standpoint, then starting with the repeatable designs. We have a great team of consultants, architects, engineers, where we’re using the same design as well and construction technique. We also have general contracting in-house. 

“The final piece of that is getting a property management that understands what we’re delivering, taking out a lot of those hidden fees. When you put that stack together, it allows us to rent units $300 to $500 less than the other luxury apartments around here.”

From that blank piece of paper, Greenlight outfitted the complexes with a variety of amenities for renters. A pool, fitness center, community gathering space and laundry rooms are just some of many offerings at Streamliner. Cabana has a few more amenities than Streamliner, and boasts a backyard barbeque and games space, Zen park lounge and a combination of themes to tie it all together. 

Both of these projects have been years in the making, conceptualized in 2021, but the unveiling of the finished project is scheduled for the fall of 2024, and Richards is looking forward to providing a valuable resource to the Glendale community. 

“We’re thrilled, and we’ve been very blessed,” he said. “We’ve had some repeat partners. We have some new lenders as well. They understand the vision we have. We’ve also been successful in the past projects. I think it’s just building that momentum. And we’re very lucky in today’s environment to be able to start new projects and deliver homes for Arizona families.”