Revised permits have been filed for a modest apartment project at 520 31st Street in Pill Hill, Oakland. The application follows up on the five-year-old plans while adding an additional unit. Emeryville-based Gunkel Architecture is responsible for the design.
The 42-foot-tall structure will create seven apartments and one efficiency dwelling unit. Parking will be included for four bicycles.
520 31st Street facade elevations, illustration by Gunkel Architecture
The first pre-application for 520 31st Street was filed in early 2020. The existing four-unit apartment will need to be demolished. According to city records, the structure was built in the 1910s as part of the fragmented Telegraph-Grove-Shafter district, comprised of several dozen homes across six blocks. Most of the historic structures were built from the 1890s to the early 1900s.
The existing complex is ranked as a contributor to an historic area of secondary importance. In a 2020 letter, city staff told Gunkel Architecture the future design at 520 31st Street, “does not need to have the same style of the buildings in the neighborhood but should have more elements that relate to the context.”
The massing will have a street-facing setback to complement adjacent apartment heights overlooking 31st Street. The bulk of the new structure will take over the mostly empty backyard of the existing condition. Facade materials will include cement plaster, metal panels, and wood grain parklex panels.
Rendering for 520 31st Street via Gunkel Architecture
The 0.13-acre site is located in the Pill Hill neighborhood, aptly named for the many hospitals and medical centers within the small area close to Downtown Oakland. For regional transit, the 19th Street BART Station is just 20 minutes away on foot, and the MacArthur BART Station is 15 minutes away on foot.
Jeanne Furstoss and Michael Bowler are listed as the property owner. The estimated cost and timeline for construction have yet to be established.
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Why are they replacing that attractive Grey building with that ugly Halloween colored box?
This is really ugly and too small. If they’re going to demolish the existing building, they should be required to build something much bigger.
More housing is good close to public transportation.