Zoning permits have been filed for a new eight-story residential infill at 2138 Kittredge Street in Downtown Berkeley, Alameda County. The project will replace a 120-year-old brick building with over five dozen apartments, including a few affordable units, directly across from California Theatre. The Austin Group is responsible for the application.
The eight-story building is expected to yield around 42,900 square feet, making room for 66 apartments. Unit types will vary with studios, one-bedrooms, and two-bedrooms. Five dwellings will be designated as affordable to very low-income households. The ground level will include the resident lobby, bike room, leasing office, and four studio apartments. The rear-lot studios will benefit from private open-air terraces.
2138 Kittredge Street, image via Google Street View
Niles Bolton Associates is responsible for the design. The illustration shows an articulated facade with narrow floor-to-ceiling windows in white and sandstone hues. Darker materials will contrast the pale exterior around the base level and inset balconies.
Plans drafted by the Austin Group call for the removal of the 120-year-old Fitzpatrick House. The street view looks at the 1935 Georgian Colonial brick addition, while the rear of the lot is occupied by the 1903-04-built John C. Fitzpatrick house. In 1923, Alma Taylor purchased the property from Fitzpatrick and opened the Pepper Tree Tea Room, a neighborhood restaurant and cafe. The building is not a landmark in Berkeley, though, during a Landmark Preservation Commission meeting this February, the building was one of over fifty sites to be considered for potential landmark designation.
The property’s history is mostly shaped by its relationship with the California Theatre, located just across the street. Now, their history remains connected, as another developer is looking to redevelop the theater with a 17-story complex above a new theater facility and the preserved facade. Earlier this year, the city rejected an appeal of Gilbane Development’s 211-unit adaptive reuse of the theater facade.
Next door to the newly-proposed project, East Beach Capital has started leasing for the seven-story residential development at 2150 Kittredge Street. The property is located between Oxford Street and Shattuck Avenue, half a block from the southwest corner of the UC Berkeley campus and two blocks from the Downtown Berkeley BART Station.
Carlson Susan Trust is listed as the property owner. The estimated cost and timeline for construction have yet to be shared.
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I hope the Landmarks Commission would landmark this building soon and put a stop to this craziness!
They should not..we need housing and not 120 year old relics. They are around in plenty.
This application is filed under the rules of Senate Bill 330 and as you well know there isn’t anything that the landmarks commission or BAHA can do at this point.
Seriously, this building should not be treated as a landmark building. It’s this kind of reaction to projects likes this that firces to the state to intervene so more housing can be built. If the public would be less nostalgic and overly protective of what is marginally valuable historically, applying the state directive wouldn’t be necessary.
Sorry for the typos. Seriously!
Berkeley is in need of more affordable low income apartments units that people of color, LGBTQ+ and homeless can afford!