Forge Development Partners Acquire 601 W. Beech Street Property in Little Italy for Innovative Workforce Housing Project

New Workforce Housing High Rise to Honor the Legacy of a Historic Working Class

San Diego Neighborhood
 

SAN DIEGO – Forge Development Partners (Forge), a privately held San Francisco real estate
development firm, is proud to announce its acquisition of the property located at 601 W. Beech Street.
With this acquisition, Forge hopes to perpetuate the workforce history and legacy of the area that is
Little Italy. The property was purchased from the Asaro family who have called Little Italy home since
the 1940s. Forge plans to redevelop the property into a world class high-rise building providing some
328 rental units of workforce housing for the City of San Diego. Preserving and supporting the working
class tradition of the area was a guiding objective in the development of this project. True to this
tradition, this development will be privately-financed and not government subsidized. This project was
made possible as the result of initiatives developed and supported by the Office of San Diego Mayor
Kevin Faulconer. These initiatives have helped streamline and reduce the construction processes and
costs making possible the development of housing for the middle income worker.

Forge Founder, Richard Hannum, commented: “We are pleased that the forward thinking of the Mayor’s
Office has created an environment where projects like 601 W. Beech Street can flourish. With the help of our partners, we will reimagine what privately-financed workforce housing can provide to the community – housing that meets the needs of today’s working families while keeping rental costs low.”
Forge, in partnership with a world-renowned architecture firm, will utilize innovative design,
construction processes and building systems as well as the latest technology to produce high-quality,
sustainable living units for the San Diego workforce.

“We’ve adopted several housing reforms to make it easier, faster and cheaper to build in San Diego,”
said Mayor Kevin L. Faulconer. “Now we’re starting to see builders take advantage of those new
opportunities with projects like this and lowering costs with our revamped parking standards and
streamlined permitting process.”

The previous owners of 601 W. Beech Street, the Asaro family, are known as the “sons of Little Italy” and elected to sell the property to Forge because of their commitment to preserve the working-class legacy of the neighborhood. The building will include a mix of studio, one, two and three-bedroom units with state-of-the-art full kitchens, bathrooms and open living areas targeted for the modern working family.
The glass façade will showcase the spectacular views from residences and emphasize the contemporary

feel of the development. An abstract sculptural frieze, called Sogno D’Argento by family member and
world-renowned artist, John Asaro, will pay homage to Little Italy’s past as a working-class Italian and
Portuguese neighborhood that once was the center of the west coast tuna fishing industry. It will be a
prominent part of the building design and complement the existing neighborhood art.

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“I wanted to honor the history of Little Italy,” said John Asaro. “As I was designing the frieze, I was
inspired by the neighborhood fishermen, the tuna and porpoises who often swam together, and the
churned-up water and waves – all interacting together. The bent abstract shapes of the frieze represent
this interaction.”

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