Cambridge Apartments

473 Ellis Street

Cambridge Apartments

473 Ellis Street

HomeRise acquired the Cambridge Apartments from Chinatown Community Development Center in 2012 after providing on-site support services and property management since 2008. The Cambridge Apartments provides supportive housing for individuals who are extremely low income and/or chronically homeless. HomeRise engaged Mock/Wallace Architects to redevelop the building. The Cambridge Apartments re-opened in May 2013 as part of HomeRise’s permanent portfolio of supportive housing.

THE BUILDING

The Cambridge Apartments consists of 60 individual studios, each with a full bathroom and kitchenette. During the rehabilitation, the ground floor was completely reconfigured to include a new lobby, reception desk area, management offices, a tenant lounge, and a services suite with separate program room. HomeRise replaced major building systems including the boilers and elevator, added solar photovoltaic panels to the roof, and made extensive structural upgrades to improve the building’s seismic strength.

The Cambridge was built as a residential hotel in 1926. After the Loma Prieta earthquake, the San Francisco Mayor’s Office of Housing helped Chinatown Community Development Center purchase and rehabilitate the building.