High-Rise Apartment Projects Proliferate in Berkeley
Developers are moving forward on a bevy of apartment towers that are poised to transform the skyline in Berkeley.
The latest tall residential project is a joint venture of Walnut Creek-based Laconia Development and Berkeley-based Rhoades Planning Group, who are planning to build a 23-story, 240-unit student apartment tower at 2029 University Avenue.
Laconia will demolish a two-story commercial building to make way for the high-rise, a project that will employ a state-density bonus and include 18 very-low-income units and 18 moderate-income units, the San Francisco Business Times reported.
Berkeley, a city that for decades was averse to high-rise buildings, has seen a proliferation of recent applications for residential towers that are taller than 20 stories.
Chicago-based developer Core Spaces is planning a 26-story, 456-unit apartment tower at 2128 Oxford Street. Nearby, two massive residential projects are moving forward on Shattuck Avenue, a 28-story tower from NX Ventures at 1974-1998 Shattuck and Landmark Properties’ plan to build a 25-story apartment building at 2190 Shattuck.
Yes Duffy Architects and Rhoades submitted plans to build a 20-story, 117-unit tower at 2425 Durant Avenue in Berkeley’s Southside neighborhood, invoking AB 1287, a new state density bonus law. Rhode Island-based Gilbane has filed updated plans in September invoking AB 1287 to increase the height of the 23-story apartment tower it is planning to build at 2115 Kittredge Street.
The demand for housing is being driven by growing demand for student housing at UC Berkeley, which currently provides housing for about 20% of its enrollment.
UC Berkeley has committed to build 11,730 beds for students and faculty over the next 15 years. The university recently opened Anchor House, a 772-unit student dorm for transfer students. In October, UC-Berkeley announced plans to build a 23-story dorm at 2200 Bancroft Way.
There also is a construction boom in Southern California to address a shortage of student housing. The region’s public universities have 15 projects in some stage of planning, approval or development, aiming to add dorm space for at least 12,000 undergraduates, the Orange County Register reported.
More than 9,200 students from nine of Southern California’s 13 public university lingered on campus housing waiting lists this fall, the report said.
The building boom is being supported by a state affordable housing grant program that in the past three years has authorized nearly $2.2B to fund student housing projects.
UC San Diego is in the midst of putting up six buildings in the 16-22 story range encompassing a total of more than 9,500 beds, including a 2,400-bed community in the River Walk section of the campus.
Chancellor Pradeep Khosla has asked the University of California for approval to build up to six more towers, a $2B expansion known as the Pepper Canyon East District on a 20-acre tract located between the university’s Blue Line Trolley station and Interstate 5. The plans include a 300-room hotel.
Recently completed projects allowed UCLA, which has the largest student housing portfolio in the state, to offer a four-year housing guarantee to incoming freshman. UC San Diego is aiming to match this guarantee.
Source: GlobeSt/ALM