Senior Project Manager - Practice Builder, Roadway Design

Development begins on socal affordable housing for wildfire victims. It's the developer's inaugural project. Community HousingWorks and Laing Cos. have broken ground on Covina Senior Apartments, a $51.5 million, 60-unit affordable property in Covina, Calif. The community will give preference to older households displaced by the January 2025 Los Angeles County wildfires, as well as the victims of future fire disasters. The six-story development is rising on a 0.45-acre state-owned site made available under Governor Gavin Newsom's initiative to build affordable housing on excess state-owned land. The project is slated for completion in the summer of 2028. Applications for the units will be accepted starting in early that year. Community HousingWorks and Laing Cos. are partnering with Walton Construction, TCA Architects, Agency Artifact, Kimley-Horn and Building One Consulting to complete the project. The development is funded with support from the California Department of Housing and Community Development, the California Department of General Services, the Housing Development and Finance Committee and First Citizens Bank. The project is also being funded through the MFSN-LA Disaster and Community Development Block Grant - Disaster Recovery Funding. Earlier this year, the governor also announced that roughly $107.3 million in state money was being used to fund the creation of 673 affordable rental homes prioritizing those affected by last year's wildfires. Covina Senior Apartments is among nine projects receiving funding from a Multifamily Finance Super notice of funding application, issued by the California Department of Housing and Community Development in February 2025. The state later created a separate NOFA for disaster-impacted areas in the Los Angeles region. Closer look at the Covina project. Located at 233 N. Second Ave., Covina Senior Apartments will address the growing need for affordable senior housing in the San Gabriel Valley. The property will offer one-bedroom apartments for adults 62 and older earning 30 to 70 percent of the area median income. Fifteen units will be reserved for residents with vision impairment. The community will include a club room, lounge areas, an outdoor courtyard, a fifth-floor library, laundry facilities on two floors, scooter charging and energy-efficient building systems. The property will have 27 parking spaces, some with electric vehicle charging and EV-ready capability. Residents will also have access to on-site services provided by Community HousingWorks for older adults and people with disabilities, including a part-time resident services case manager, benefits and application assistance as well as wellness check-ins. Workshops will be offered on topics such as fall and fraud prevention, in addition to Medicare and benefits education... Using inclusive design standards, the indoor and outdoor common spaces will encourage social connection while supporting residents' independence and long-term housing stability. The location near downtown Covina will provide residents with access to public transit, essential services, shopping, community amenities and other neighborhood resources. First project with plans for second. Covina Senior Apartments is the first project that Laing Cos., a Los Angeles-based affordable housing development and consulting firm, has completed with Community HousingWorks, a nonprofit organization that develops and operates affordable housing across California and Texas. It's also the firm's inaugural project. But it won't be the last time the two entities team up. The organizations are building on their success in Covina with a 129-unit family affordable housing project planned for Fresno, Calif. The development will also follow inclusive design standards. The timeline for that project is still to be determined. Kevin Leichner, senior vice president housing & real estate development at Community HousingWorks, told Multi-Housing News that the nonprofit plans to continue to look for more partnership opportunities with Laing Cos. "Community HousingWorks and Laing Companies both embrace the mission of increasing equitable access to affordable housing," he said. "We were able to come alongside Alexis Laing's development expertise with our successful track record, project management team and balance sheet, and we are thrilled that we could be part of Laing Companies' first project to break ground." Laing said she was excited to partner with Community HousingWorks on the project, especially because of its focus on inclusive design standards for aging adults. "After 20 years in the industry, I started Laing Companies to focus on projects just like this one, bringing senior and family housing to communities that need it," Laing told MHN. "Knowing that senior housing is a growing necessity in the San Gabriel Valley, we're excited to break ground on an affordable housing development that will address residents' needs as they age, both now and into the future, with dedicated set-asides units for blind and low-vision residents."

Lyon Township data center project remains under review. Fifth plan submitted as township reviews ordinances. PUBLISHED: September 19, 2026 at 6:00 AM EDT The Lyon Township Planning Commission again heard feedback this week from residents as its members continue reviewing a proposed data center project that had originally been approved a year ago. Walbridge, a Detroit-based construction and design company, and one of three developers involved in the Project Flex data center project proposed near Milford Road, south of Grand River Avenue, recently submitted their fifth plan to the township. Walbridge is collaborating on the project with Verrus, a California-based company that builds and operates data centers around the country, and Kimley-Horn, a North Carolina-based engineering and design company. The planning commission unanimously approved the project last September, but since then opposition by local residents has grown. The 172-acre property is already zoned industrial and the three companies were not seeking any variances or zoning changes, so the township board did not need to approve the plan for over 1.8 million square feet of building space. No public hearings were held by the board. But once word got out to local residents, the sentiment has been overwhelming - many are vehemently opposed to the project. "We're talking approximately 1.8 million square feet across six buildings on 172 acres, with a utility substation immediately adjacent to existing residential properties," said Erica Schatt, who lives adjacent to the property where the project is proposed to be built. "The scale of this project matters, because once this facility is built, the impacts are permanent. "I continue to be concerned about what that means for the residents who live immediately next door, not just during construction, but for decades afterward." Schatt also mentioned that the newest plan submitted to the township has added 18-foot walls along the south and east sides of the property. "That wall itself requires a variance," she said. "But there's no comparable 18-foot wall along the western boundary, where the residents are literally the closest to the project or even the north boundary, where there's a school." Township planner Brian Keesey gave an update on where the process stands. "The consultants are still reviewing the fifth submission of the site plan. It is not going on an agenda until we have comments that are back to the applicant," he said at the Monday meeting. "The plan may get revised before it comes back. It may come straight here. We don't know." The township is simultaneously reviewing possible changes to their ordinances and evaluating the project itself. New and amended language is being considered in several different sections of township ordinances including setbacks, energy and water use, special land use criteria and noise. "Details shall be provided to sufficiently describe sound-attenuating methods and vibration dampening systems used to mitigate impacts for chillers and other mechanical equipment associated with the use," the new section reads in part. "A complete acoustical analysis and impact assessment shall be completed, including complete modeling documentation and all modeling inputs and assumptions used in the noise modeling calculations." No one from the project developers spoke at the meeting. Keesey said the township has received several public comments about a waste management plan and added under the public facilities assessment a waste management plan describing handling methods for trash, recycling, batteries, e-waste, and other consumables specific to a proposed use. "I think we have to pay attention to the concerns that have been raised about the noise, electrical usage, water usage, environmental concerns, effects on property values, et cetera," said New Hudson resident Diane Link. "You've heard all this before, but I don't want you to forget that it's something that's really a concern." The process has gotten contentious over the summer. A letter submitted along with a third site plan earlier this year, warned that if approval is further delayed, Verrus will pursue legal action, including injunctions and damages under state and federal law. No legal action has yet been taken. But a new proposal has been offered to the township. Verrus representative Maria Poyer addressed the board and the public at a township meeting on July 6 with added incentives involving Project Flex. She said the township board was presented with the proposal in person on June 4 and a formal letter was submitted to board members on June 7. "The framework includes approximately $10 million in voluntary, township-administered community investments: a $5 million community infrastructure and resiliency fund, a $2 million public safety fund, and a $3 million education and workforce training fund, with priorities set by this board and its residents," Poyer said. "It also commits Verrus to local hiring, a community job fair, and ongoing township coordination, and enforceable neighborhood protections on noise, lighting, landscaping, water use, and environmental stewardship." The next board of trustees meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday Oct. 5 and the next planning commission meeting will be at 6 p.m. Tuesday Oct. 13.