KINGFISHING FOR CASH
This article was published in the October 18, 2025 edition.
On Wednesday night, the Mammoth Lakes Town Council discussed Pacific West Communities’ (PWC) request for a soft loan of $7.2 million. This money would supplement funding for Kingfisher 2, a section of the Parcel affordable housing project.
What is a soft loan? It’s a longer term, below market loan, based on residual receipts. The loan is paid back annually based on the project’s annual cash flow, according to the Parcel Project Manager Shellan Rodriguez.
“Generally, the entire loan does not get paid back in the first 15 years,” she said.
The Council plans to make a decision on the loan request at its next meeting on Nov. 5.
The Town of Mammoth Lakes (TOML) has already promised $9.5 million to Kingfisher 2.
The rental units in the Parcel are available to households earning between 30%-80% of the Mono County area median income (AMI).
The soft loan will be used to leverage an estimated state award of $42.2 million for the project. This state money comes in the form of state credits, federal credits, and bonds.
Phase 1 of the Parcel project, the Sawyer, an 81 unit residence, was completed in the summer of 2024, Rodriguez stated in the beginning of the presenation.
These units are almost completely full, with only one vacancy in the past month, she said.
“It’s doing really great in our minds.”
There are currently 62 households on the waitlist for Sawyer, Rodriguez added. Households must be recertified each year. So far, ten households have moved out due to a variety of reasons ranging from medical to inability to afford rent.
There are also income limits on the tenants.
“There is a policy that when people get to a certain income, they are asked to leave,” Rodriguez said. “That has not happened as far as I know.”
Now, PWC is working on Phase 2. This consists of Kingfisher 1, 76 units, currently under construction, and Kingfisher 2, slated to have 72 units and is yet to be built, and requires a loan from the town.
“Kingfisher 2 is shovel ready,” Nolan Bobroff, TOML community and economic development director, said during the presentation. “Building permits are nearly ready to be issued should they receive funding.”
PWC needs much more funding in order to make Kingfisher 2 economically feasible, the presenters said. Initially, Kingfisher 2 budgeted $51,709,274 for pre-development costs. These include pricing for land cost, fees and permits, construction, and architecture. Now, the project’s estimated cost is $58,523,704, a 13% increase.
The greatest discrepancy between budgeted and estimated actual costs stemmed from increasing architecture and engineering rates, which were initially slated to be $800,000 and are now $1,287,399, a 61% raise.
“I know this feels like a big ask, but it’s really what it takes,” Rodriguez said. “It will always be cheaper to develop yesterday than it will be tomorrow.”
To put this request in perspective, Rodriguez compared the average financial support the town gives to other projects, such as the Joaquin and Innsbruck Apartments.
The average TOML allocated funds per unit is $93,010, much higher than the $76,719 per unit the town would give the Parcel phases if the council accepts the PWC request.
Rodriguez doesn’t want to be in a position in which the town is turning away the state funding for the Kingfisher project. Although the state won’t give the project the $42 million until Nov. 19, she has good reason to expect Mammoth to be given the funding.
Last week, PWC received a preliminary scoring letter, which indicated a positive response on the project from the state. A scoring letter from the state results in a 95% chance or greater receiving the award, according to Caleb Roope, CEO of PWC.
Moreover, Mammoth Lakes is designated as a rural area, which may make it a high priority for the state, Rodriguez said.
Although all signs seem to point to Kingfisher 2 receiving state funding, “we’re not in position to accept that award without additional [town] funding,” Rodriguez said.
PWC would be unable to build the project without the loan from the town, Roope stated.
“We’ve never turned an award back, ever,” he said. “We always execute on our plans.”
While turning away this award would not affect the town’s relationship with the state, Rodriguez assured, there is only so much state funding for these types of projects.
There’s no guarantee PWC will receive an award like this for the Kingfisher 2 project in the future, she said.
