FAQs

The Proposed Project includes up to 510 units of housing made up of 71 studios, 259 1-bedrooms, 168 2-bedrooms and 12 loft/townhome units. This is subject to change as we work through the design/approval process.

Affordable housing is a key question and one that has a major impact upon financial feasibility. The BMR Analysis Sheet identifies the relative impact of various affordable housing scenarios upon project economics. The revised project submitted to Planning in August 2022 provides for up to 51 units of housing on-site at 110% of Area Median Income (AMI), (this is 10% of the total 510 units on-site).

The development team continues to explore options for increasing the number of affordable units created. The cost of providing affordable units at 110% of AMI is approximately $500,000/unit, with the cost increasing as the affordability level increases. If a subsidy source were identified, market rate units could be converted to affordable housing units at the approximate cost/unit based on AMI levels.

The two buildings range in height from 45 feet to 90 feet.

A revised project description was submitted to the City as the basis for the EIR study on May 15, 2020 and was further revised and updated on August 25, 2022.

The revised project includes a parking garage for 233 cars internal to Building A (corner of Broadway and Clifton) and a level of subgrade parking for 35 cars at Building B (along the eastern edge of the property). The parking garages will be wrapped with housing. The total of 268 parking spaces results in a parking ratio of .53 spaces per residential unit.

We anticipate implementing a Transit Demand Management (TDM) Plan and other measures to encourage transit ridership and other forms of transportation while discouraging on-site parking. Some of these measures include:

• Proximity to public transit: The site is near local AC Transit bus routes 51A and 851, which have bus stops at the intersection of Broadway and College Avenue. AC Transit also provides transbay service via route V at a bus stop on the side of Broadway that fronts the project. The Rockridge BART station is only a 5-minute bike ride or a 10–15-minute walk away from the site. Local service to school routes also serve blocks adjacent to the project site.

• Unbundled resident parking: The Proposed Project will separate the costs of parking from unit rent allowing residents to choose whether to pay for a dedicated parking space. Current plans anticipate that the monthly fee for this parking would be $140 per space.

• On-site TDM coordinator: The draft TDM Plan includes an on-site TDM Coordinator and marketing program aimed at residents and employees to promote using alternative transit options including real-time public transit information, dedicated carshare parking spaces and a guaranteed ride home program.

• Bike parking: We plan to have secure bike paring for 510 bikes, or one bike per home. This is three times the amount of bike parking required under current City of Oakland code.

• Carpool program: The TDM plan recommends that future site employers coordinate a carpool match program for on-site employees.

• Rideshare: The Proposed Project includes designated drop-off and waiting areas for rideshare services and on-site parking for car share vehicles.

The Proposed Project offers over 1.5 acres of publicly accessible open space, including the 10,700 square foot Macky Lawn, which will be utilized as a public event space, 1,480 square foot discovery play area and a 1,430 square foot terrace that wraps around the historic Carriage House building. The ground floor of the Carriage House will also be publicly accessible providing 1,290 square feet of space that will be designed to accommodate a variety of activities from special events and gatherings to art classes and community meetings. The ground floor, as well as the publicly accessible space, will also honor the history of the CCA campus through various rotating exhibits.

The revised project preserves Macky Hall and Carriage House, the two structures listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

City Planning staff requested that additional project alternatives be studied following identification of the campus as an Area of Primary Importance (API) under the Historic Resource Evaluation (HRE) prepared by technical experts. The 2020 Design Alternatives explored the possibility of preserving between 5 and 10 buildings and converting them into office use, which was determined to be the most economically viable use.

Preserving additional buildings reduces the land area available to build housing, thereby creating a tradeoff between housing and preservation. The more buildings preserved, the fewer housing units that can be developed. If two buildings are preserved, 462 homes can be accommodated; if five buildings are preserved, 335 homes can be accommodated; if ten buildings are preserved, 228 homes can be accommodated.

The financial analyses of preserving the existing buildings and converting them to office use revealed that an office conversion project, considered alone, would not be financially feasible (see the Rehab Financial Analysis Summary). An office project alone would not be able to secure the necessary debt and equity to proceed. In fact, the more buildings converted to office, the poorer the financial performance whereas the more housing accommodated, the greater the likelihood of financially feasibility.

The financial analyses revealed a tradeoff between preservation and new housing, including on-site affordable housing (which also carries a significant financial burden). The three options are:

• Revised Project: 2 buildings preserved, 462 new homes, 46 affordable homes on-site

• Alternative 2: 5 buildings preserved, 335 new homes, no affordable homes on-site

• Alternative 3: 6 buildings preserved, 298 new homes, no affordable homes on-site

Since the analysis of the preservation options, completed pre-pandemic in 2020, commercial office rents have declined by 10%, operating costs have increased, and construction costs have increased dramatically by nearly 25%. As a result, none of the preservation options are financially feasible today.

Alternatives 2 and 3 from the 2020 Design Analysis proposed preserving and adaptively re-using different combinations of campus buildings. Alternative 2 proposed preserving five buildings in total, and Alternative 3 proposed preserving six existing buildings in total. Unfortunately, neither of these preservation alternatives are financially feasible under current market conditions.

Landscaping features including the historic stairs, the entirety of the Broadway wall, the carriage gate, significant mature trees and historic landscape elements noted in the Historic Resource Evaluation will be preserved.

The Design Guidelines require that we honor the existing character of the site landscaping, and we feel that the Proposed Project retains much of that character. Under the Proposed Project, 38 trees would be retained. 75 trees would be removed, but new trees would be planted in their place. See the Tree Preservation Plan for more information.

We are committed to designing sustainable buildings that meet a high standard of environmentally responsible design. To do this, the buildings will be all electric, use solar electricity for building common areas and include water conservation features, reduced parking, electrical vehicle charging stations and three times the required amount of bicycle parking.

The neighborhood paseo, central plaza and communal grove areas adjacent to Building B will be open to emergency vehicles and are designed to allow enough space for multiple emergency vehicles to enter from Clifton and be able to turn around safely on-site. The Oakland Fire Department has reviewed the proposed plan for emergency egress and provided preliminary approval of that plan.

We are actively working with CCA, their staff, students, and alumni to develop an ongoing program for art installations and rotating exhibits. CCA also has extensive archives of the campus history and selected artifacts and artwork that will be incorporated throughout the project in public spaces both within the new and existing buildings (Carriage House, Macky Hall, building lobbies, amenity spaces and common areas) and in the exterior spaces (selective exterior walls for murals and exhibits, areas for art and exhibit installations, etc.).

We also welcome the rental of Macky Hall and the commercial space along Broadway to arts and nonprofit organizations who may further honor the artistic legacy of the site by sponsoring or allowing for public use of their space.

The Environmental Impact Report (EIR) is expected to study traffic impacts from the project upon surrounding streets. The Draft EIR was published on January 12, 2024 and it contains such studies.

The comprehensive analyses indicate that none of the 2020 design scenarios studied would be financially feasible to build based upon pre-COVID construction costs and market rents. The analyses then considered a 5% reduction in construction costs (without decreasing rents), which improved financial feasibility, but not to a point where construction could begin. As the revised project moves through the entitlement process, the development team will be tracking changes in construction costs and market rents, two key metrics, along with others that ultimately will affect the project’s financial feasibility. The development team is pursuing this project because it is our hope that construction costs will eventually drop sufficiently, when considered in tandem with rents, such that the revised project could be built on the CCA campus.

We also believe that, over the long term, the CCA campus' large size and its proximity to regional transit and neighborhood commercial uses make it an ideal location for high-density residential development and provide a unique opportunity to provide much needed housing in a neighborhood that traditionally has seen little development.

The Rockridge office market has historically been undersupplied. Many experts believe there is demand for more office space in the neighborhood. The financial analysis of the office conversion assumed pre-COVID rents (which were at an all-time high for Oakland) and, even then, the office development scenarios were not financially feasible given the high costs of conversion. A recent survey of comparable office space in the summer of 2022 has indicated that office rents in the Rockridge area have declined by approximately 10% since the pre-COVID rents of 2020. Over the same time period, construction costs have increased by almost 25%. As a result, none of the preservation alternatives are financially feasible today.