PUBLISHED: April 6, 2026 at 4:48 PM PDT
By Chris Krohn
I’m not sure if I glimpsed the future of the once great Surf City, but what I saw during a recent tour of new housing on Front Street in Santa Cruz wasn’t pretty. I ventured out on a field trip of sorts, a tour of the pastel-colored concrete that is being dubbed “River Row.” It is on Front Street, but maybe it ought to be on a back street.
I was aghast at the modernist rectangular look with a severe minimum setback from the street. Then I learned of the sky-high rents being charged. Whew! This complex, a rather unwelcome addition to our city’s streetscape, is a high-cost Utilitarian Modernist (ick!) statement that clashes with our coastal beach vibe.
River Row is Silicon Valley-light. It is not an upgrade, or homage to our cherished history of Spanish Colonial Revival, Victorian, Queen Anne, or Craftsman styles. Are we really trying to be more like San Jose? These out-of-place edifices now hover over the banks of the San Lorenzo River like nesting birds used to — and many more are on the way.
River Row comprises 175 studios, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments. There are also a few über-class, two-story “town homes” renting for $7,500 per month, but I wonder if they have enough panache, even for tech-bros to show off their new-found affluence? Perhaps they’re awaiting eight UCSC students? Twenty affordable units are included, but 155 others rent somewhere in the stratosphere. The pricing scheme veers wildly from the current national debate around the concepts of affordability. The 10-percenters who are able to shell out the big bucks at River Row might even raise their eyebrows a bit. Studios start at $3,300 (444 square feet), one-bedrooms go for $3,775 (670 square feet), while two-bedroom units lease for a whopping $5,535 (976 square feet).
By the way, this project, like most recent city erections, was built by outsiders. In this case, the Lincoln Development group out of Dallas, Texas. So much for locals being a part of the mayor and City Council’s late-stage capitalist pioneer building boom. We now appear to take our design and building standards from Texas and Southern California, places most of us long-ago decided not to live. While Manhattan has its “Billionaire’s Row,” it now appears that Santa Cruz possesses its own “Millionaire’s Melange.”
River Row ought to contain 35 affordable units according to our city’s inclusionary ordinance, but California’s density bonus law has overridden local authority. While the state requires just 5%–10% affordability, Santa Cruz already mandates 20%, yet local officials offer no pushback. Other cities, including Santa Monica and Los Angeles, are challenging this developer-friendly state policy. Where is our City Council and mayor when it comes to holding for-profit developers accountable for our housing affordability crisis?
At River Row, there are two public stairways leading from Front Street up to the river. There are five metal picnic tables alongside the public bike path and a couple of metal art sitting structures. There are also lots of crushed granite surfaces around these buildings and it appears the developer may have paid for a couple hundred feet of new asphalt for the already established river bike path. These amenities are known as “public benefits,” which are negotiated with the developer before a project begins. This is significant because the current City Council has demanded few public benefits from developers for recent past construction projects and the crushed granite, asphalt, and metal tables are minimal.
River Row opened for business on Feb. 1 and appears on track to set a new bar in the world of unaffordable local rentals. What current River Row rents might mean for the rest of the Santa Cruz rental market, only time will tell, but two and three-bedroom homes, for example, now renting for $4k-$6k will likely rise to $5k-$7k because of this project’s $7,500 “townhouse” price scheme. The rents in this new development, along with sky-high UCSC dorm rents, drive the price of living in Santa Cruz ever higher. It is unlikely the current City Council, working with for-profit developers, will build their way out of this crisis.
Here, market-rate housing continues to “pencil out,” while real affordability does not. That outcome isn’t inevitable, it’s partly political. Let’s remember that four City Council votes out of seven determine whether local standards are enforced or quietly waived in the name of density.
An election is near. Ballots will be mailed out May 4 and are due by June 2. Over the next couple of months, voters have an opportunity to debate, discuss, and demand that candidates hold for-profit developers accountable and insist that new housing serves the people who live and work here.
The mayor’s race and two council seats are on the line, so make your voice count. Remember, four votes on the City Council can greatly impact our abysmal state of housing. Vote like the future of your city depends on it, because it does.
Chris Krohn is a writer, a former internship director at UC Santa Cruz, a past mayor of Santa Cruz, and a current candidate for mayor.