Developers Break Ground On Long-Awaited Affordable Housing Project In Oakland
After 17 years of planning, construction on a mixed-income multifamily project is underway near Oakland Coliseum BART. The 110-unit Coliseum Connections project from UrbanCore Development and Oakland Economic Development Corp. will provide a mix of apartments and townhomes, of which half will be set aside for low-income residents, the San Francisco Business Times reports. The remaining units will be market rate. The $53M project will be on Snell Street between 70th and 71st avenues and is expected to deliver by December 2018.
The project will be built using prefab structures, which is expected to reduce construction time by 30% and costs by about 10%, according to UrbanCore President Michael Johnson. The project is designed by Pyatok Architects and Prefab Logic and the prefab structures will be manufactured by Guerdon Modular Buildings. Cahill Contractors will be on-site to assemble the homes.
Affordable housing at the project will target renters earning under 60% of the median income and the market-rate housing will target middle-income families. Market-rate rents are expected to be range from $1,800 to $2,400 for one- and two-bedroom units and will be about 25% less than downtown and Jack London Square, according to Johnson.
The project includes a five-story building with 66 apartments and 44 two-story townhomes. It will also provide 86 parking spaces and two car-share spots. A 25-foot pedestrian mews bordering the east edge of the project will provide direct walking and biking access to the Coliseum BART station. The project also will have a 1K SF community café.
The project previously received $2.5M toward affordable housing from Oakland as part of Alameda County’s Measure A1 and another $10M from the state. The City of Oakland also contributed $12M. Private investment from Chase Bank, Royal Bank of Canada, Commonwealth Multi-Family Housing and Hunt Mortgage/Freddie Mac also went toward the project. BART provided a long-term lease for the land.
CORRECTION, OCT. 10, 3:09 P.M. PT: A previous version of this story had Prefab Logic's company name wrong. The story has been updated.
