Grubb Properties & Swenson Bring New TOD Project to Oakland
The developers will break ground this month on Link Apartments, a 157-unit property with access to the local BART station and a ferry.
Developers Grubb Properties and Swenson will break ground this month on Link Apartments, a 157-unit apartment property with access to a local BART station and a ferry. The property is located at 412 Madison Street in Oakland.
The transit-oriented property is meant to address the housing shortage in California and particularly in Oakland, according to Eric Applefield, director of development at Grubb Properties. Link Apartments is a national brand from the firm. It is an amenity rich property that will fill the gap between subsidized and luxury apartments. The property will be National Green Building Standard certified in addition to being close to public transit options.
While there has been a focus on increasing the supply of affordable housing, investors are also focusing on middle-income properties, like this development. Middle-income properties are becoming increasingly scarce has housing affordability wans. According to the National Association of Home Builders, housing affordability has fallen to its lowest level in a decade, due to rising building material costs, high demand and low inventory have added tens of thousands of dollars to the price of a new home. The share of new and existing homes affordable to families making the US median income of $79,900 dropped to 56.6% in the second quarter from 63.1% in the first, according to the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index.
Other investors are answering the call. Earlier this week, Standard Communities and Faring announced that they formed a $2 billion joint venture to develop middle-income housing in California over the next 18 to 24 months. The joint venture will operate as Standard-Faring Essential Housing and will develop both ground-up apartments and the acquisition and conversion of existing apartments.
In March, Waterford Property Co. said that it would target the missing middle through a partnership with the California Statewide Communities Development Authority to acquire and convert apartment communities into middle-income housing.