Plans to redevelop the 30,000-square-foot Bancroft Center retail complex, across the street from the UC Berkeley campus, have been drawn and the owners of the center have engaged Colliers to market the property and potential.
As designed and envisioned by Lowney Architecture, “a new owner could potentially re-develop the [2580 Bancroft] site into a mixed-use project featuring 21,000 square feet of ground floor retail space situated below four floors of residential housing containing 132 studio and one-bedroom units.”
Keep in mind that while the site has recently been up-zoned for the height and density of the project as envisioned, the plans as drafted have yet to be officially proposed, vetted or approved.
Increasing the density here is probably inevitable – but too bad IMHO; I like the current feel of Bancroft – the lowered height & density helps contribute (again, IMHO) to a relaxed “academia” atmosphere.
I never associated single story buildings with an academic atmosphere. Even midwestern universities out in the cornfields have four story buildings.
I don’t usually reflexively comment on architecture, but I guess a building that looks like 1957 East Berlin is appropriate for “left wing” U.C. Berkeley? Tepid. Very tepid.
UPDATE: Bigger Plans for Low-Slung Berkeley Shopping Center Site Advance