Developers Double Size of Housing Project at BART Station
Plan calls for 13 apartment buildings in North Berkeley station's parking lot.
Housing developments on Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART)-owned land are proliferating in the Bay Area, with two coming to fruition soon in North Berkeley.
The developers of a housing project that will be built at the North Berkeley BART station’s parking lot have more than doubled the number of buildings that are planned for the affordable housing initiative.
North Berkeley Housing Partners (NBHP) has filed a new application expanding the number of apartment buildings from six to 13, including buildings as high as eight stories.
The buildings will encompass 750 units, more than half of which will be designated affordable, with rent levels ranging from 20% of the area’s median income up to 70%, according to a report in the San Francisco Business Times.
NBHP is a partnership of affordable developers Bridge Housing and East Bay Asian Local Development Corp. (EBALDC), market-rate developer AvalonBay Communities and nonprofit Insight Housing (formerly known as Berkeley Food and Housing Project).
The partners applied to build the apartment units under AB 2011, a state bill designed to streamline housing projects built on commercially zoned land. AB 2011 requires cities to approve projects that propose 150 units or more within 180 days after submitting an application.
NBHP is aiming for final approval this year and a groundbreaking in 2025 for the project, which will rise on a surface parking area at the Bart Station. The site is situated on a block bordered by Virginia, Acton, Delaware and Sacramento Streets.
Based on the revised application EBALDC will build a six-story building with 60 units; Bridge Housing will build two eight-story buildings and three three-story buildings, encompassing a total of 236 units; Insight will build a six-story building with 85 units; and Avalon will build an eight-story building and five three-story buildings, encompassing a total of 358 units, and a parking garage.
The original plan for site, presented in July 2023, included six buildings ranging from four to eight stories tall. In 2022, North Berkeley approved rezoning to allow housing at the North Berkeley and Ashby BART stations.
The development will be constructed in three phases, starting with three buildings that will house affordable units and a 48K SF area of open public space. The two market-rate buildings will go up in the second phase.
The project will include a multi-use Ohlone Greenway connection, a childcare facility and 6K SF of community-serving ground floor space.
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