Dive Brief:

• A plan for 7,800 residential units and the stores, schools, parks, offices and amenities that go with them on a 2,200-acre tract in Coachella, California – population 40,704 – has won the preliminary blessing of the town's city council.
• The key to the 5-0 vote on a first reading of the projects development agreement with the city was agreement during negotiations in a city council meeting for New West Communities to create 500 units of affordable housing by the time it is done with La Entrada, which is projected to be in 2032 if a 2015 groundbreaking goes as planned.
• The affordable housing, which counts units for seniors and disabled people as well as low-income residents, will be done in chunks as houses, apartments and condominiums are built, with 240 in phases 1 and 2 and the rest later.

Dive Insight:

Coachella is a city of moderate-income residents that sits not far west of Interstate 10, southeast of Palm Springs and on the eastern edge of the San Jacinto and Santa Rosa mountains. New West estimates that building La Entrada will put $1.1 billion in wages and $3.4 billion in taxable sales into the local economy over the course of its 20-year build-out.