Condo Project Converts Industrial Land

WEST OAKLAND, CA-AGI Capital of San Francisco has unveiled plans for a 146-unit condominium development on three parcels totaling 1.5 acres where the company has recently obtained entitlements. The project, as yet unnamed, will be developed on a site at West Grand and Bush streets.

AGI anticipates breaking ground for the project in the fall and completing it in mid-2009, with the condominiums to be priced at prevailing market rates and to be geared to first-time homebuyers. Alexis Wong, president and CEO of AGI, describes the neighborhood where the condos will be built as "transitional" and says that the development follows the company's strategy of seeking out transitional neighborhoods and building mid-range urban infill housing.

Plans call for three buildings with similar designs that will each be tailored to comply with the separate zoning restrictions for each of the three parcels. The parcels are located in the West Oakland Redevelopment Project Area, just outside of the Central Business District, about two blocks from Forest City's massive Uptown development.

The development will be designed to appeal to a wide range of buyers by featuring a mix of units ranging from one to three bedrooms, including 18 townhomes with attached garages on one of the parcels. One of the other parcels will be the site of 63 units and a subterranean parking garage, while the third parcel will be the site of a six-story building featuring 65 condominiums and an at-grade parking garage.

In addition to the three buildings, the developers plan a common space with 3,300 sf as a community room with a kitchen and a fitness facility. Wong notes that the development parcels and the land surrounding them have been identified in the city's official planning documents as an area in which housing development is of the highest priority to meet growing demand.