Concrete is nearly topping out for the affordable senior housing project rising over the Lake Merritt BART Station in Downtown Oakland, Alameda County. Once complete, the eight-story apartment complex is expected to add 97 units above the transit hub and across from the Laney College campus. East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation is responsible for the development.
Lake Merritt Building B establishing view, rendering by PYATOK
Lake Merritt Building B open-space plaza along 8th and Fallon Street, rendering by PYATOK
Lake Merritt BART Senior Housing corner view over Fallon Street, image by Andrew Campbell Nelson
Lake Merritt BART Senior Housing overlooking 8th Street and Oak Street, image by Andrew Campbell Nelson
Once complete, the 85-foot-tall structure is expected to yield 82,360 square feet, with 3,240 square feet of ground-floor commercial space for food services. Unit sizes will include 22 studios, 70 one-bedrooms, and five two-bedrooms. Residents will have long-term parking for 49 bicycles, with commercial space for six bicycles. Of the 97 affordable units, 44 will be reserved for seniors at risk of homelessness. On-site facilities will give residents direct access to healthcare and social services. Amenities will include a community room, a computer room, a rooftop lounge, and a garden.
PYATOK, a prolific Oakland-based architecture studio involved with several other affordable projects across the region, is responsible for the design. The structure conforms to a triangular lot with the narrow corner pointing toward Fallon Street. Renderings show that this corner will feature a raised parapet and a covered, double-height open space, creating a dramatic focal point. The sheltered gathering space will cover a stairwell leading pedestrians into the landscaped paseo that is expected to run between the senior housing and a proposed 28-story apartment tower. Facade installation has not yet started but is expected to include brick veneer, fiber-cement panels, composite wood, and plaster.
Lake Merritt BART TOD senior housing aerial view, rendering by PYATOK
Lake Merritt BART Senior Housing seen from 8th Street, image by Andrew Campbell Nelson
Lake Merritt BART Senior Housing, image by Andrew Campbell Nelson
The affordable senior housing complex is the first of the four-building Lake Merritt BART Station master plan to start construction. The transit-oriented development is a joint venture with EBALDC and Strada Investment Group. The proposal includes two affordable housing buildings, a residential high-rise, and an office tower. The 2022-approved plans include nearly half a million square feet of commercial space and 557 apartments, of which 233 units would be affordable. However, updated information about the timeline for the rest of the master plan has not been shared.
Lake Merritt BART Development aerial circa 2021, rendering via PYATOK
Lake Merritt BART Development open space site map, illustration by EinwillerKuehl
Lake Merritt site map, rendering by Pyatok
The development has received $30 million from the California Department of Housing and Community Development across two grants. Cahill Contractors is the general contractor responsible for construction.
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That will be a nice addition to this area which is pretty windswept and bleak.
By the way, separate is spelled incorrectly in the site plan.
Happy to see this level of investment in Oakland. Pretty nice work from Pyatok as well.
这座新公寓优势明显，值得期待！
Oakland needs to build so much housing.
– Build its property tax base to be able to provide better services.
– Increase quality of life by replacing vacant lots and abandoned buildings with foot traffic, well landscaped and lit buildings, and actual city life.
– Attract people looking to live in SF with affordable rentals at a price point they can’t refuse.
Oakland misses out on premium office space, tourism, and conventions to SF, misses out on the undergrad / grad student economy to Berkeley, and misses out on retail revenue to Emeryville, SF and Walnut Creek. Oakland really has nothing going for it, sadly and needs to do something major. Proximity to many BART stations and good weather are its only structural advantages.
Oakland has its issues, but to say that Oakland has nothing going for it is pretty crazy. Oakland has a thriving restaurant scene, most of the hottest restaurants in Temescal were started by ambitious chefs that got priced out of SF (that’s not to say that there aren’t struggling restaurants in Oakland, but there are lots of good ones) in fact some of the top rated restaurants and coffee shops in the whole bay area are in Oakland, the art scene is growing fast (again because artists are getting priced out of SF), the market rate housing sector is pretty stagnant (although lots of new market rate housing opened early in the pandemic so there are lots of nice new apartments around downtown) but the affordable housing sector is booming thanks to bond measures and support from city hall. Crime is down just like most big cities and most neighborhood commercial districts are thriving on weekends. You should come over and see what little ole Oakland has going one before saying “It has nothing going for it”.
I wouldn’t say Oakland has nothing going for it. But I would say there’s a ton of unmet potential. The parking lots around Lake Merritt and West Oakland stations should’ve been developed a long time ago. There’s still a lot of surface parking lots downtown and around downtown. There should be a San Antonio BART station, and there should’ve been a plan ready for shovels for the Coliseum site as soon as the A’s left.