Plans for 529 units of senior housing to rise along 105th Avenue and International Boulevard, near Durant Manor in deep East Oakland, have been drawn for the Riverside Charitable Corporation.

The proposed development would rise up to six stories in height across the 3.9-acre site which is generally bounded by 105th Avenue to north, an AC Transit facility to the south, and International Boulevard to the west, along which the existing Dollar Green, Rockforth Pharmacy and Borderline Automotive Service Center businesses on the site would be retained and remodeled as part of the International Boulevard Senior Housing project.

As proposed, 30 percent of the units would be offered at below market rates, priced to be affordable to those earning up to 60 percent of the area’s median income, and the ground floor of the development would include a garage for 334 cars.

And if approved, the project team is proposing to start leveling the existing auto body shop and service center on the site this June and have the development ready for occupancy by May of 2020.

26 thoughts on “Plans for 529 Units of Senior Housing in Deep East Oakland”
    1. Perhaps the spaces are for caregivers? The ratio of spaces/units is 63%, is that really high? it looks like the overwhelming %age of seniors have licenses (pp.6) (though of course not all drive and in a lower income group the %age is probably even less, still…)

      1. .63/unit is high for any kind of development fronting a major transit line. You really don’t want all those cars interfering with your massive capital investment. For low-income senior housing where driving is likely to be lower than average it seems especially high.

        1. This group has another project in the area, it’s listed as 192 units and I did a quick count on Google Maps >~120 spaces >~ the same ratio. So it seems like they’re using a standard formula.

          Perhaps they don’t know what they’re doing or perhaps you’re overrating this particular BRT as a “major transit line”; and as for “old people”, I believe the cutoff is 55+, not 65+…or 105+

          1. The fact that a company from Anaheim has a standard formula is beside the point. AC Transit is making a $180M investment here and the city has a responsibility to maximize the return on that investment. Even if a building full of oldsters really does need that much parking, which I doubt, that only means that they should be built further from the BRT line.

            However, I maintain that these things don’t really need that much parking. A car share at a 0.1/unit ratio would serve brilliantly.

          2. It’s also worth noting: “Pursuant to Government Code Section 65915(p)(3)(B) the parking ratio for a senior housing development shall not exceed 0.50 spaces per unit when located within 0.5 mile of a fixed bus route stop that makes at least eight stops per day.”

            The nearest bus stop to the project site is approximately 0.08 miles away and is served by the 1, 1R, 45, and 801 lines.

            And the combined bus service for these four these routes at this stop is more than eight times per day.

          3. The point was that this seemed to be a standard number, and so perhaps wasn’t appropriate here…actually in support of your point.

            As for AC, I agree that they should maximize their – our – investment; but I think that should be accomplished by offering the best service possible, consistent w/ making money (or not losing too much more money than they already do)…not by forcing people out of their cars.

          4. @socketsite very good info. The BRT will arrive more than 8x per hour, in both directions.

    2. It seems like an OK number for senior housing. A lot of residents probably won’t be able to take public transit (it can be kinda risky to take a jerky/bumpy bus ride if you’re old and frail), or do much bike riding or walking (again: old and frail…kind of a sketchy area too), and there will be plenty of visitors coming and going as well.

      1. That’s a counterfactual statement. Seniors are *more* likely to ride the bus, not less. People aged 65+ are 15% of the population but they only do 8% of the driving. One third of non-drivers are 65+.

    3. The parking ratio is less than 1.0… It’s almost 0.5. That is OK. This is a relatively suburban area, on the border with San Leandro.

  1. lol @ the notion that you won’t need a car just because you’re near some arbitrary transit “line”, and in deep east oakland of all places.

    1. Agreed. The support staff coming from other areas aren’t riding the BRT late at night in that part of town.

  2. Is this rendering in Irvine? Check out the lush landscaping and fancy cars. Not to mention the architectural “style”.

        1. Have you seen the apartment “cities” along North First in San Jose? All developed and managed by The Irvine Company. A little monolithic, but they do do suburban multifamily well.

  3. Card carrying arthritic senior here. I live 2 blocks from BART. The down escalator is often broken; now they have built a hut around it- that does not augur well. The elevator has puddles of pee & worse. On the train, the seats for seniors & disabled are hogged by young folk glued to their phones, or with big suitcases. Even when I ask, they don’t move. I want to take BART, but it is a struggle.

    1. You have my sympathies, but I think you misread the comments: they were about BRT – Bus Rapid Transit – not BART.

  4. That’s a really rough neighborhood. It is a big investment for that area. Hopefully the City will move it forward.

    1. Because the area is rough a poorly designed project should go forward? Rough areas are where transformative projects should be built not another “Villa Irvine upon the Five”. .

  5. my mother-in-law lives in a SEVEN story senior housing complex in the most urban part of rural Quebec (you can see corn fields from her balcony). resident parking is below ground, freeing the ground floor for all community activity and service space – a cafeteria and restaurant, game rooms, a pool, a small bowling alley, a cinema and computers in a media room, a lending library, a gym, physical therapy, on site nurse practitioner. outside there are individual garden plots and outdoor games and sitting areas, as well as walking/bike/cart trails to the mall with a supermarket and restaurant complex next door and the cost-co down the street.

    the place reads like an after school program for seniors with clubs for everything and bus trips to competitions and museums and parks and events.

    she lives on little more than her government check and a small pension (she’d qualify as a below market renter).

    our seniors deserve complexes better than this. this is clearly better than what is there now but so much less than it could be.

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