A gated 78-house development is being purchased by the University of California, Riverside, in an effort to lure professors with subsidized housing.

The Creekside Terrace homes are about a mile from the university. The deal with Fidelity Homes is in escrow but it still needs approval by the U.C. Board of Regents. A vote is expected soon.

The cost is estimated at more than $30 million, but it won’t be disclosed until regent approval. Twenty-four of the homes are nearing completion.

It’s difficult to lure professors to the area because of Southern California’s high real estate prices. U.C. Riverside doesn’t have land set aside for faculty housing and “that was a strike against us,” campus director of real estate services Lisa Hjulberg said.

Other University of California campuses also have programs offering subsidized housing as an incentive for recruiting new faculty, Hjulberg said.

U.C. Riverside bought six houses at the nearby Redington development last year for $2,642,448 and rents them to faculty for $1,650 to $2,050 a month, depending on the size of the house.

Initially, the university plans to rent out the 24 Creekside Terrace homes for $1,850 to $2,400, depending on the size. Then it may offer up to half of them for sale starting next summer at a cost that probably would be 30 percent below market, Hjulberg said.

Faculty members would lease the ground under the houses and buy the structures, which helps keep the overall cost down for them, Hjulberg said.

Source:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/08/10/state/n114534D81.DTL&hw=real+estate&sn=002&sc=638