Meeting Tonight for Amoeba Apartments in Southside, Berkeley

The Berkeley Zoning Adjustment Board is scheduled to review plans tonight for the eight-story apartment project at 2455 Telegraph Avenue in Southside, Berkeley. The proposal would add 68 apartments above the Amoeba record store, making adaptive reuse of the existing structure’s facade and historic mural. David Prinz is listed as the property owner, working with planning consultant Rhoades Planning Group.

Amoeba Apartments establishing view, rendering by Studio KDA

The 85-foot-tall structure is expected to yield around 84,100 square feet, including 76,940 square feet of housing and 7,160 square feet of commercial retail space. The development will produce 68 units, of which seven will be deed-restricted as affordable to very-low-income households. The project will feature larger apartments suited for student living, with 15 three-bedrooms, 10 four-bedrooms, and 43 five-bedrooms.

Studio KDA is the project architect, collaborating with 122 West Landscape Architecture. Plans for the redevelopment include preserving the People’s Park Mural, painted by Osha Neumann in 1976 to memorialize the Free Speech Movement of the 1960s.

Amoeba Apartments facade elevation overlooking Haste Street, illustration by Studio KDA

Amoeba Music occupies a roughly 1.7-acre lot at the corner of Telegraph Avenue and Haste Street, close to the construction of People’s Park by UC Berkeley. Future residents will be in the heart of the city’s college-oriented retail thoroughfare just a few blocks away from the UC Berkeley campus.

The estimated cost and timeline for construction have not yet been shared.

2455 Telegraph Avenue, image via Google Street View

The Berkeley Zoning Adjustment Board meeting is scheduled to review plans tonight, Thursday, September 10th, starting at 7 PM. The hybrid event will be held in person at the Berkeley Unified School District and online via Zoom. For more information about how to attend and participate, visit the city website here.

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