The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit Board of Directors recently reviewed the latest plans for the El Cerrito Plaza BART Station. The public presentation includes a tentative phasing schedule, which says construction on the several-hundred-unit masterplan could start as early as next year. The transit agency is working with Related California and Holliday Development.
El Cerrito Plaza Parcel A South, rendering via BART Board of Directors project presentation
The agency’s Board of Directors reviewed the project last Thursday, April 11th. BART Director of District 3, Rebecca Saltzman, emphasized the scale of the project for the city during Thursday’s meeting, saying, “the fact that we will meet half of the city’s RHNA goals with this project, other cities would dream to have that happen.” El Cerrito, a Contra Costa County city within District 3, has a population of roughly 26,000 people and is tasked by the Regional Housing Needs Allocation to build 1,391 units by 2031.
While details have not been shared about individual projects, that broad overview is that the development will include 743 units across six structures, of which 47% will be affordable. Parking will be included for 260 cars and nearly 1,200 bicycles. An additional 145 vehicular parking spaces will be provided for BART riders.
El Cerrito Plaza site map labeled, rendering via BART Board of Directors project presentation
Construction is expected to start sometime next year on a 70-unit affordable complex at Parcel A South and 259 market-rate units at Parcel B. The latter structure will include parking for BART Riders. The affordable housing on Parcels C and D are projected to all be under construction by 2026. The final phase of construction is the 133-unit market-rate complex at Parcel A North.
The project aims to increase ridership, promote foot traffic in the area, and potentially integrate a 20,000-square-foot public library. The site plans will enhance what is currently the northernmost end of the Ohlone Greenway, a 4.5-mile trail that connects to the North Berkeley BART Station.
El Cerrito Plaza Parcel C West library and public plaza, rendering via BART Board of Directors project presentation
PYATOK and Van Meter Williams Pollack are co-architects, with Einwillerkuehl as the landscape architect. The developers have brought in Factory_OS, a modular construction firm that boasts faster timelines for completion with reduced emissions. The team and city have procured roughly $50 million, mostly from the State, to facilitate building the housing and infrastructure improvements.
El Cerrito Plaza development site overview, image courtesy BART
Berkeley-based Satellite Affordable Housing Associates will be a co-developer working with Related. According to the developer presentation, the next step for El Cerrito will be negotiations on the term sheet and ground lease, additional state funding for Parcel A South, and coordination on station access during construction.
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This is great! However, I would love to see more TOD in the Bay Area be more similar to the developments in Vancouver. BART should definitely be building double the homes near their stations.
Agreed. This is a good start and not a bad scale for El Cerrito. But we need to maximize density around all Bart stations. A huge opportunity lies at the Coliseum. Hope the initial plan I saw for that a couple of years ago gets massively upgraded.
Yeah it’s nice to see transit-oriented development planned at BART stations. But one of the buildings next to MacArthur station is 25 stories, and that should be the standard, especially at the Oakland and SF stations
You’re a non-profit supported non-reader.
Great that more affordable housing in a transit rich area. The Library and alternative transportation parking (bicycle) also good. Will the bike parking have plugs for e/bikes?
So can BART actually make money off of these developments to shore up the agency’s finances? Many metros around the world make significant revenue from the homes and businesses they own around and in the stations.
Can somebody please create something better looking than a strip mall stucco and clad box? Architecture has lost all form of ingenuity and grace..one after another of giant similar buildings with plain facade and zero life.
This is how developers make money. Big, bland, boring.
That’s what YIMBYism is all about, making maximum dollars.
It’s long past time for construction to start. I live right around the corner and even on the busiest days, the parking lots where Parcels A and D will go are almost always empty. The site is crying out for development. Couple that with the bustling El Cerrito Plaza shopping center and highly utilized greenway, this buildout could easily become a vibrant, mixed-use node. Let’s get it done.
About time! They should also upzone the area between Carlson, Eureka, Ashbury, and Brighton.
These shopping malls that are 90% parking right next to the transit should be redeveloped too. Build a parking structure and convert the rest into mixed used development.
I hope they don’t make it as horrible as the El Cerrito Plaza update that took decades to do. That shopping mall has the worst roads and parking configuration I’ve ever seen. Have you even seen a 3 way stop where all 3 stops are not in alignment and it feeds into a roundabout that also has stops to join the roundabout? WTF bother to make a roundabout if you’re going to put stop signs at the entry points? And make the cross traffic clear, not offset. Sad. Maybe part of the redevelopment should be to tear down EC Plaza and start over.
I agree that the El Certito plazas traffic situations and signage conditions are dreadful. Driving by Trader Joe’s,Customers crossing without looking,on phones, They need a crosswalk there. Someone should fix the clock. Parking for the Laundry mat is lacking with newly added housing. What happened to the recycling there? Driving by the Bart Station is alful weird crossing for pedestrians ECT. Cars doing Holly wood stops at the stop signs. Something should and can be done to make all safer for all. We can’t count on the Plaza to make improvements. Building all of this is only going to make it worse.. The Post office has no parking.