Zinnia

A mix of apartments and townhomes promotes a healthy and sustainable lifestyle for low-income families in Signal Hill.

Zinnia Apartments is the first new affordable family housing community in Signal Hill since 2007. The project is LEED Gold certified, with a thoughtful design that encourages a healthy lifestyle for residents, while positively contributing to the surrounding historic neighborhood.

The 73 homes are a combination of apartment units and townhomes for households with an income between 30% and 60% of the area’s median income. Over 25% of the property is usable open space, which includes a central green lawn for flexible activities, a patio adjacent to the standalone community room, a children’s tot lot playground, a dog park, and a communal garden. Onsite residential services ensure that all residents have access to a network of programs, including ESL and adult education classes, life skills workshops, after school programs, employment training, computer literacy, and health services.

Designed at a neighborhood village scale, the development has three distinct buildings that vary in height to accommodate the heavy slope. The tallest structure is at the lowest elevation to maintain the other two buildings’ adjacent views. To blend in with the low scale of the surrounding neighborhood, the communal areas enliven the public edge of the project, while the 80 parking stalls are tucked under the buildings at the low point of the site. The architectural forms and roofs, brick, board cladding, and clerestory windows are inspired by the history of saw-tooth industrial and agricultural buildings in Signal Hill.