Century Villages at Cabrillo’s Cabrillo Gateway project is a Grand Award winner at the 2016 Gold Nugget Awards which honor architectural design and planning excellence and draw entries from throughout the United States and internationally. Cabrillo Gateway was honored as the Best Affordable Housing Community – 30 to 60 dwelling units/acre.

Chosen from an elite pool of Merit Award winners, Grand Awards were announced on June 23, 2016 as a feature highlight of Pacific Coast Builders Conference (PCBC®) in San Francisco, the nation’s largest regional conference and trade show for the real estate development field.

Located in Long Beach, California, Cabrillo Gateway adds an additional 81 apartment homes to a 27-acre campus, a former Naval housing base converted into a supportive housing community for more than 1,300 formerly homeless veterans, families, and children. The award winning project provides high quality affordable housing and supportive services that includes case management, counseling, and career services among others that aim to empower residents and restore wellness.  The development also includes comprehensive healthcare services by The Children’s Clinic which operates a 2,500 square foot federally qualified health center on the ground floor of Cabrillo Gateway.  Ultimately, Cabrillo Gateway represents the symbolic gateway out of homelessness and into hope for its residents.

In bestowing the Grand Award to Cabrillo Gateway, the judges stated: “This community is an addition of eighty-one units to a former Navy facility in Long Beach, California. It is focused on supportive housing services for homeless veterans and families. It is hard to describe what this project does not accomplish in meeting its mission. Over and above the social goals, this community is LEED for Homes Platinum. The scale of the neighborhood is so artfully done that it belies the home count and the role played in supporting its mission. Literally, the homes are a gateway for the community and a gateway in and out of homelessness for the clients. What else could a project offer to the public and to its client? Absolutely a superior product and implementation worthy of the honor and more importantly, worthy of emulation.”

Cabrillo Gateway was honored as the Best Affordable Housing Community - 30 to 60 dwelling units/acre at the 2016 Gold Nugget Awards. Credit: Zhejia Dai

Cabrillo Gateway was honored as the Best Affordable Housing Community – 30 to 60 dwelling units/acre at the 2016 Gold Nugget Awards. Credit: Zhejia Dai

Richard Prantis of The Architects Collective, the project architect, stated, “When I first walked around CVC, I was impressed by the sense of community. In our practice of architecture we strive to express the culture of a place, engender community and to design homes that bring safety, dignity, comfort, pride and joy. The design is the result of a synergistic collaboration with CVC staff, service providers and residents and their visions and values.  It has been rewarding to see the residents inhabit Cabrillo Gateway and make it home.”

Cabrillo Gateway was made possible through integral support from the City of Long Beach, the Housing Authority of the City of Long Beach, the County of Los Angeles, the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco, Wells Fargo, and the California Community Reinvestment Corporation.

Now in its 53rd year, the Golden Nugget Awards are the largest and most prestigious competition of its kind in the nation. It honors design and planning achievements in community and home design, green-built housing, site planning, commercial, retail, mixed-use development and specialty housing categories. Winners this year were chosen from 665 entries from around the world. See the Gold Nugget Awards website: www.goldnuggetawards.com.

Century Villages at Cabrillo is an affiliate of Century Housing Corporation of Culver City, California, a private 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization. Century was formed in 1995 as the successor to the State of California’s Century Freeway Housing Program, which was established to create nearly 4,000 units of affordable housing for those displaced by the construction of the 105 (Century) Freeway. For more information, please visit: www.centuryvillages.org.

SOURCE Century Housing