On Wednesday, October 23rd we were honored to welcome Congressman Tony Cárdenas and his staff to Penny Lane to accept and celebrate an $850,000 donation to Abbey Road. Abbey Road, which is our real estate development company, will use the funds to help with the remodel and renovation of our apartment buildings, which houses transitional age youth. In a significant show of support for our Housing Program, the Honorable Congressman Tony Cárdenas spoke of the importance of serving the community and his role in doing just that as, first a councilman and then as a member of congress
“We are incredibly grateful for Congressman Cárdenas’ support,” said Wendy Carpenter, CEO of Penny Lane Centers/Abbey Road “His commitment to our mission helps us ensure that we can continue to provide vital services to our community, and this funding will allow us to enhance our facilities and reach even more individuals in need.”
The Abbey Road facility is particularly important as it serves as a transitional space for youth facing various challenges, including mental health issues, and housing instability. With the Congressman’s support, Penny Lane Centers aims to create a safe and welcoming environment where these young individuals can thrive.
The event included heartfelt speeches from Congressman Cárdenas, Wendy Carpenter and a current resident, who shared his journey to Penny Lane and the positive changes that stable housing and caring staff have helped him to achieve.
Congressman Cárdenas has been a long-time advocate for mental health awareness and funding, recognizing the critical role that accessible services play in community health. His ongoing efforts to secure resources for organizations like Penny Lane Centers and Abbey Road highlight the importance of collaborative initiatives in addressing mental health challenges.
We are proud to work alongside such a committed member of our community and our government. We know that, through the donation received, we will be able to continue to provide support and housing to the community.
Check out some more photos below!
It has been a while since we have updated you on all that is happening over at Abbey Road.
Our Imagine Village II project is fully leased and running well. I recently walked the building in the early evening, and it was lovely to hear the laughter of the children playing on the play structure in the courtyard. This project is in the process of converting to its operational phase. This means that we will be paying off the construction loan with the financing that only becomes available when the building is occupied by income eligible residents. Our residents are settling into the building with the help of the Housing Services Team led by Cathy Blair and comprised of Deneishia Jones and Aviela Diaz.
Sun Commons continues to operate well, and our tenants are stabilizing and more importantly they are thriving thanks to the care of their Housing Services Team led by Gabriela Segura and comprised of Jenay Valdez, Cynthia Shackleford, and Evelyn Pacheco.
We are going to start construction in the next three weeks on our “The Rigby” development which is right across the street from the Mark Taper Family Center. For a sneak peek at the final design please see the rendering below. We are really excited about this 64-unit development which has 33 supportive housing units reserved for Homeless Transition Aged Youth and Homeless and Chronically Homeless Families. We also hope that some of your clients will be able to apply to live in this building in early to mid-2026.
Demolition will be complete, and we will have a vacant site for a Groundbreaking in early December, so watch your emails for more information about that event on December 5th at 10am. We would love to celebrate this milestone with all of you- details coming soon!
The buildings we have had for a longer time are doing much better now that they are also receiving Intensive Case Management Housing Services. These wrap around services serve to make a daily difference in people’s lives. We are just now turning over units in some of our older buildings as our residents are feeling that they can live their lives without the constant support provided by their Housing Services Teams. Those moves out of Permanent Supportive Housing speaks volumes about the benefits provided by the Housing Services Teams to our residents. Kudos out Cathy Blair, Kymberly Luna and Kevin Cummings and their case managers Alice Smith and Gina Campa; Sal Zaragoza; Karina Wynn and LaTanya Douglas, Donna Baily and Kishi Gonzales.
Abbey Road has also been hard at work raising funds for the rehabilitation of the smaller buildings along Columbus Street. Congressman Tony Cardenas stopped by the Mark taper building at the end of October to deliver a large $850,000 check to be used toward the rehabilitation of the next two buildings moving south down Columbus Avenue. We are actively working to leverage that funding with other philanthropic funds so we can start the next rehabilitation project. We are also so grateful to him for providing the $1 million that kick-started our capital campaign and allowed us to start the rehabilitation of the first Transitional Housing Building.
If you come by the Mark Taper, you can check out 15260 Rayen Street. The building is nearly done with construction. We have added a new ADA accessible pathway into the building and parking. We remodeled two units to accommodate mobility and communication disabilities. We also replaced the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems throughout the building, so that it would be in good shape to be used for Transitional Housing for the next 50 years! We also removed the gas from the building and went all electric! To cover half of the electrical load of the building we added solar panels on the roof and over the carport structures. The lessons learned on this first building will apply to the other four buildings as we move south down the street with our rehabilitation projects.
We also have a few application funding rounds coming up so that we can apply for financing for our Pasadena TAY project, The Starr, and hopefully for the development we are considering in Downey.
-Maura Johnson, Abbey Road
