Nonprofit organization makes offer to buy Palo Alto mobile home park

There are a number of mobile home parks here in the valley. Every large, metropolitan area has at least a few, and now it seems there are some developers who want to buy the parks who will likely demolish them and build high end apartments or condo thus displacing low end residents who don't have any other ownership options. According to the article from the Mercury News, there is a private organization who wants to buy these mobile home parks in order to protect them from these developers in the name of protecting low income residents.



PALO ALTO -- A nonprofit organization that has rescued 20 trailer parks throughout the state has made a bid for the Buena Vista Mobile Home Park, according to a county supervisor.

The Caritas Corp. submitted a written offer on Aug. 6, said Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian. The bid followed a July 29 meeting at his office between Robert Redwitz, CEO of the Irvine-based nonprofit organization, and Joe Jisser, whose family owns the property.

"At this point we're looking to follow up and see where things stand," Simitian told The Daily News.

Simitian declined to disclose how much was offered.

In May, the City Council reluctantly approved the Jisser family's application to close the mobile home park at El Camino Real and Los Robles Avenue. Some 400 mostly low-income Latino residents could be displaced if the 4.5-acre property is sold to a private developer.

The county inked a deal with Caritas earlier this year to make an offer on Buena Vista using a total of $29 million set aside by the City Council and the Board of Supervisors. The nonprofit organization would also manage the property if the bid is accepted by the owner.

Caritas, which already manages 20 trailer parks across the state, could raise an additional $10 million through a tax-revenue exempt bond, Simitian said. The bond would be repaid with rent revenue.

The purchase price aside, the mobile home park needs an estimated $12 million worth of work, Simitian said.

"The current owner has been planning to sell the site rather than maintain it as a mobile home community," he said.

Simitian is counting on the philanthropic community to help close any funding gaps that remain.

"If we get to 'yes' with the current property owners, then we'll know where we stand and I'll be back on the phone following up on some conversations I've had during the past few months," he said.

Asked whether he believes the bid would be accepted, Simitian pointed out that Caritas wasn't the only one interested in acquiring the trailer park.

"I think Caritas made a very strong offer," he said, "but we just don't know what else is out there in the way of offers from other potential buyers."

Source: Mercury News, Jason Green
http://www.mercurynews.com/real-estate-news/ci_28646610/palo-alto-nonprofit-organization-makes-offer-buy-buena?source=infinite