Former Church Gets New Life as Vital Workforce Housing

OAKLAND, CA—When the Melrose Baptist Church was built in 1930, occupying a entire city block in the Melrose neighborhood, it was surrounded by a fruit orchard with a few small bungalows. The building is now listed on the National Register and recognized as an example of Spanish Colonial Revival-style architecture prevalent in the early 20th century when first designed by Wythe, Blaine and Olsen.

Today, the building has taken on new life after it was painstakingly restored as the Rose on Bond. It now has 60 apartments ranging from studios to two-bedroom units. Preserving this type of historic property with significance to the Oakland community while providing needed affordable housing is an impressive feat, say many of its project team members.

“It’s the right approach to the issues we care deeply about in Oakland: our history, community and housing for our residents,” says mayor Libby Schaaf.

Located just one mile from the Fruitvale BART station at 1638 47th Ave., the Melrose neighborhood has been overlooked by other private developers despite its accessibility to jobs and transportation. The project shows that with vision and care, the East Bay’s aging housing stock can be successfully renewed to meet local housing needs.

“The Rose on Bond is an excellent example of an accurate historic renovation and adaptive reuse of a beautiful building,” says Michael Bradley of the Oakland planning department. “No detail was spared from the exterior, interior, the landscaping on down to the fencing and public art. Residents as well as neighbors should be both proud and excited to have such a jewel of the neighborhood.”

RIAZ Capital was able to successfully rezone the property and raise private financing with investment from Chase in historic tax credit equity. Construction debt was obtained from First Republic Bank secured by Fannie Mae, a first for an investment of this scale in East Oakland.

“With complex adaptive reuse projects such as the Rose on Bond, historic tax credit equity provides essential, low-cost private capital that helps industry players like RIAZ Capital preserve historic elements, while keeping development costs low,” Tim Karp, executive director of Chase community development banking tells GlobeSt.com. “This allows them to deliver a quality product at an affordable price point.”

The newly renovated apartments preserve the historic Spanish revival character while adding the amenities of new construction. In-unit features include quartz countertops, stainless steel appliances, dishwashers, tile bathrooms, private outdoor space and designer finishes.

Secure parking for vehicles and bicycles is available on-site, along with an outdoor barbecue, package concierge and laundry facilities. Both landscaping and an adjacent city pocket park were upgraded as part of this project.

“It has been very gratifying to witness the transformation of a long neglected and practically abandoned property into much-needed additional housing,” says Bob Bodnar, a long-time neighbor and chair of the local Rainbow Community Neighborhood Council. “And now, this freshly painted, nicely landscaped and brightly lit spot has brought some vibrancy to an area that desperately needed it. All and all, this project has been a welcome improvement to the area.”

The 60 apartments are now 97% leased with the vast majority going to local workforce residents including teachers, nurses and other professionals, many of whom previously lived in Oakland.

“The successful rezoning of the project for residential use and increasing the density from 36 units to 60 units was critical to facilitate the redevelopment of this important neighborhood landmark into much-needed workforce housing,” Riaz Taplin, principal of RIAZ Capital, tells GlobeSt.com.

Oakland is committed to providing affordable housing and has many funding programs to increase the number of affordable housing units. Since 1988, it has funded the development of more than 6,000 units with the cooperation of for-profit and nonprofit developers.

City staff works with these developers to revitalize neighborhoods and increase housing opportunities through new construction, substantial rehabilitation, and preservation of rental and ownership housing for very low-, low- and moderate income households.

The staff also implements the city’s annual notice of funding availability process to make competitive funding awards for affordable housing projects, and monitors the city’s and agency’s portfolio of more than 75 projects to ensure proper management, maintenance and compliance with rent and income limits.

“We wanted to set a standard to say that investing in Oakland is about honoring our history and creating solutions for our community and most importantly showing that we could create affordable housing without any public subsidies,” says Taplin.

RIAZ Capital, an Oakland-based development company operating for more than 20 years, also owns and operates more than 100 creative workspaces in the ArttHaus Studios, located nearby in the old Lucasey Cannery, which has been overhauled as a hub for small businesses and entrepreneurs. The company is developing plans to roll out a larger workforce housing strategy in Oakland in the coming months under the new Opportunity Zone initiative.