Housing Commission staffer Rudy Cervantes settles into his work space on move-in day.

Ralene Friend, assistant director of resident services for the San Diego Housing Commission, purchased a condo at Union Square with her husband a few years ago after learning the commission was going to be moving Downtown.

Smart move to Smart Corner?

Instead of commuting from North County, where she lived previously, Friend walks to work each day. Her condo is just a few blocks from the Housing Commission’s new offices at 12th Avenue and Broadway, a mixed-use development incorporating offices, condominiums, retail space, underground parking and a trolley line that cuts diagonally across the property.

It’s called Smart Corner by a development team of Lankford & Associates, Urban Housing Partners Inc., Austin Veum Robbins Partners, Avion Development, CCDC, J&T Consulting, Hensel Phelps Construction Co. and the Canyon-Johnson Urban Fund.

The 200 employees who worked at the Housing Commission’s former headquarters on Newton Street are now moved into the five-story building. “We’re settled in and getting back to business as usual,” says Erika Rooks, communications manager. The Housing Commission occupies the third, fourth and fifth floors and will lease out the second floor for commercial offices and the ground floor for retail, including a 7-Eleven.

The Housing Commission paid $23.8 million for the new building, which includes four levels of underground parking, and sold the former headquarters to CCDC for $6.5 million. That site is to be used for housing.

Smart Corner’s 19-story condominium tower is scheduled for move-ins in May. Seventeen of the units are being offered as “inclusionary housing” for first-time home buyers, singles making under $54,000 annually and couples making less than $62,300 combined. Rooks says numerous Housing Commission employees have expressed interest in the less expensive units but no sales have been confirmed. All Housing Commission employees except senior management may purchase the market-rate or inclusionary units if they qualify under the income guidelines.

Rooks says the Housing Commission will lease out space in its underground parking levels to residents of the condo tower.

About 65 Housing Commission employees at Smart Corner have decided to take public transportation to the new offices rather than drive and park. “We expect that more employees will opt for public transportation over the coming months now that everyone is getting their bearings,” says Rooks. While the trolley is right outside the door, the Housing Commission building also is within a short walk of about a dozen bus routes.

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The University of Phoenix has opened classrooms on the ninth floor of Columbia Square in recognition of an increased demand for criminal justice programs Downtown. The three classrooms at 1230 Columbia St. are the university’s first in Downtown. “The demand for adult education has grown tremendously in San Diego,” says Bruce Williams, marketing vice president for the university’s Western region. “The criminal justice program is one of our largest degree programs and we wanted to reach the changing needs of our students and faculty working Downtown.”

Students who live or work in the Downtown area love the fact they can grab a class after their workday is finished and go home after commuter traffic is gone, says Williams.

The University of Phoenix also has learning centers in Kearny Mesa, San Marcos, Rancho Bernardo and South Bay, with a recruitment center in Carlsbad. Classes in San Diego are offered in a variety of undergraduate and graduate programs. Information is available online at phoenix.edu.

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FIT Athletic Club will open a 37,180-square-foot health club at DiamondView Tower this summer. Cisterra Partners says it will be the first health club in East Village. The Houston-based club will lease the entire second floor (34,800 square feet) plus an additional 2,380 square feet of ground floor retail space with a 10th Avenue entrance.

The Downtown Relocations column features news on firms that are abandoning, embracing or expanding in the 92101 ZIP code. Send submissions to Manny Cruz, manny@sandiegometro.com.