Oakland Campus Wins ULI Award

SAN FRANCISCO—An impressive group of 10 real estate developments were selected as winners of 2015 Urban Land Institute Global Awards for Excellence, one of the land use industry's most prestigious award programs. This year's winners—five in North America, three in Europe and two in Asia—were honored last week at the ULI Fall Meeting.

The awards competition, now in its 37th year, recognizes real estate projects that achieve a high standard of excellence in design, construction, economics, planning and management. The program, open to all and not limited to ULI members, is viewed as the centerpiece of ULI's efforts to identify and promote best practices in all types of real estate development.

This year's winners are 12th Avenue Arts, Seattle; Beaugrenelle, Paris; City Market at O, Washington D.C.; Denver Union Station, Denver; Devon Energy Center, Oklahoma City; Jing An Kerry Centre, Shanghai; King's Cross Station, London; Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li Chengdu, Chengdu, China; St. Joseph's Campus, Oakland; and Swedbank Headquarters, Stockholm.

Located in the heart of Oakland's Fruitvale District neighborhood, the St. Joseph's Campus comprises the historic St. Joseph's Senior Apartments and Palmera at St. Joseph's, which together form a unique, multigenerational, mixed-use campus. An underused historic landmark was leveraged to develop St. Joseph's Senior Apartments, providing an 84-unit affordable infill housing development for low-income seniors and 3,200 square feet of community-serving commercial space.

Terraza Palmera at St. Joseph's, the second phase of the redevelopment, provides 62 affordable family rental apartments—four units in rehabilitated structures that were part of the historic campus and 58 units in a newly constructed building designed in keeping with the historic context of the St. Joseph's site. The project was developed by BRIDGE Housing Corporation and designed by Van Meter Williams Pollack LLP.

St. Joseph's Campus offers an example of adaptive use, historic renovation and new construction coming together to create a multigenerational community. There are a total of 146 affordable urban infill apartments which retained the 1912 landmark. The project demonstrates how a public/private partnership can be used to leverage funding for preserving a dilapidated historic site in a distressed neighborhood and converting it into affordable rental housing while retaining funding for the project through an economic downturn.

"Each of this year's finalists and winners demonstrates how innovation and design intersect with development performance," said jury chair Michael Covarrubias, chairman and chief executive officer of TMG Partners. "The diversity of these projects is a reflection of the land use industry's interdisciplinary nature, illustrating the variety of ways to stabilize a neighborhood, improve the streetscape and create meaningful experiences for communities worldwide."