Alameda Point’s 23-Year Development Path Gets Closer to Reality

ALAMEDA, CA—Eden Housing, along with the city and Alameda Point Partners, recently welcomed residents at Corsair Flats at Alameda Point’s Site A development. Site A is a $1 billion mixed-use transit-oriented waterfront development on the site of the former Naval Air Station Alameda, which closed more than 20 years ago.

The path to redevelopment started in 1997 when the Navy suspended operations at Naval Air Station Alameda and the city of Alameda adopted its first five-year implementation plan for Alameda Point in 1999. A decade later, the Department of the Navy relinquished its control of the former Naval Air Station for its eventual conveyance to the city.

In November 2014, Alameda Point Partners was chosen as the developer for the 68-acre parcel known as Site A. The site is set to include 800 housing units with a mix of retail and office space, as well as new streets, sidewalks, parks and a ferry terminal.

The new affordable residential community Corsair Flats, located at 171 West Atlantic Ave., provides 60 residential units for low-income seniors 62 and older. It is the first of two affordable residential communities to be completed by Eden Housing at Alameda Point’s Site A.

“It is incredibly fitting that this development, the first new housing to open at the former Naval Air Station Alameda since the base closed in 1997, sets aside 28 units for veterans exiting homelessness,” says Alameda Mayor Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft. “I am so proud that the city of Alameda is not only building new affordable housing in the middle of the worst housing crisis of our time, but we are building it for the people who need it most.”

The second residential community is an adjacent 70-unit rental community targeting low-income families that is expected to be completed in early 2022. KTGY Architecture + Planning is the architect and designer of both the senior and family residential communities.

According to Jessica Musick, principal in KTGY’s Oakland office, Alameda Point senior apartments and family apartments meet the community’s vision for an inclusive redevelopment. With a focus on time and material efficiency, the new senior apartment development set record construction schedules by using panelized floor and wall systems. This delivery strategy reduced the construction schedule, resulting in a 15-month construction timeline from groundbreaking to completion.

“Though Corsair Flats was the first building to break ground, it had its challenges,” Musick tells GlobeSt.com. “Delayed funding awards resulted in increased construction cost. As a result, KTGY, Eden Housing and general contractor James E. Roberts-Obayashi Corp. worked together to reduce construction cost without compromising design quality or aesthetics.”

Another design innovation that Musick notes is addressing the issue of rising seas. As a result of anticipated sea-level rise, all structured parking is above grade and ground-level residential finish floors are elevated two to three feet above the flood plain and designed for accessibility.

“Located on the San Francisco Bay within close proximity to a future ferry stop, the entire Alameda Point masterplan anticipates sea-level rise,” Musick says.

Located in the Alameda Point Master Plan, Corsair Flats, developed on block eight, serves as a transition between three-story townhomes in block seven and six-story mixed-use multifamily building in block nine. Corsair Flats’ two residential buildings are separated by a landscaped mid-block parklet. The building entry is located on Ralph Appezzato Memorial Parkway for the senior building and Corinado Avenue for the family building.

The ground floor for both multifamily communities includes amenity spaces (manager office, service coordinator office, computer labs and bike storage), units and structured on-grade garage. The upper floors (second through fourth) wrap around an open courtyard located on the podium level. The family building podium level consists of the community room and landscaped courtyard. The senior building podium level also has a landscaped courtyard.

The senior apartment community includes 48 one-bedroom and 12 two-bedroom apartment homes targeting households earning up to 20% to 60% of the Alameda County Area Median Income.

“It is only when residents find lasting housing stability can they begin to increase their quality of life and find opportunity,” Musick tells GlobeSt.com. “Housing is the foundation. Corsair Flats combines housing with access to numerous services in order to meet the community’s diverse needs and help residents find stability to age in place with dignity.”

The majority of the veterans will be supported by the HUD Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing program in partnership with Alameda Housing Authority. Supportive services will be delivered to the residents through a collaboration between Operation Dignity, Eden Housing Resident Services Inc. and the Veterans Administration.

Site A’s master developer Alameda Point Partners is a joint venture between managing partner Trammell Crow Residential, a division of Dallas-based Crow Holdings; Los Angeles-based developer Cypress Equity Investments and San Francisco Bay Area-based commercial developer srmERNST Development Partners. Eden Housing is the affordable non-profit housing developer for Site A. The civil engineer is BKF Engineering, the structural engineer is Hohbach-Lewin Inc., the mechanical is FARD Engineers, the general contractor is James E. Roberts-Obayashi Corp. and the landscape architect is the Guzzardo Partnership.

Inspiration for the development’s name came from the US Navy Vought F4U Corsair airplane on display nearby. One of the greatest fighter aircraft of all time, the American Vought F4U Corsair became the stuff of legend for its part in the air wars of World War II, the Korean War and several Cold War conflicts that followed. Its 1942 to 1953 production run was the longest of any US piston-engined fighter, GlobeSt.com learns.