By Kate Snyder
A housing development that was completed in 2020 on Alameda’s north end is on its way to becoming even bigger with a proposal for a new apartment building slated to house hundreds of residents. Carmel Partners, a multifamily investment company headquartered in San Francisco, has plans to bring a 227-unit residential complex as an infill to the firm’s Admirals Cove development on Mosley Avenue. Most recently, the project was approved by the Alameda Planning Board.
Carmel Partners is working in conjunction with BKF Engineers as the project’s civil engineer, BDE Architecture as the designer and The Guzzardo Partnership as the landscape architect, according to project plans.
The project entails the construction of a seven-story residential building within a 2.6-acre area of the existing Admirals Cove development, which consists of 150 townhomes. The project site is located at 300 Mosley Ave., where an existing fourplex is located. Greg Pasquali, vice president of development for Carmel Partners, told city planning officials that the fourplex has one vacant and three occupied units and that the firm is working to ensure that those tenants continue to be housed within the new development. Pasquali said the firm’s preference is to move the building rather than demolish it, if possible.
Pasquali also pointed out that Admirals Cove is a somewhat low density development, with about 10 townhomes per acre to make a total of 150 units on 15 acres. The site is zoned for an average density of about 30 residences per acre, he said, and the new structure would bring the average to about 25 units per acre. He also noted that he believes this area is the exact type of location where the region should be putting more housing. It is existing developed land that’s walkable by pedestrians with school districts, parks, grocery stores and restaurants all in the same general vicinity.
Out of the seven stories planned for the building, five would be for residential space and two would be for a below-level parking garage, project plans show. In total, the building would be 297,726 square feet.
Brenna Weaver, principal at BDE Architecture, told city officials that the building would be a long, linear structure situated between existing townhomes in Admirals Cove. It would feature exterior amenity space along the west side, such as a fitness area, lounge, barbecue, swimming pools and seating as well as a lobby at the front of the building along Mosley Avenue. The design goal was to tie the new building into the surrounding development by employing a nautical theme inspired by the existing townhomes, Weaver said. Extrusions and recesses on the exterior facade are also meant to add to the articulation on the long building through the use of balconies and bay windows.
The property is part of the city’s North Housing site that comprises approximately 37.4 acres of former U.S. Navy properties encircled by Mosley Avenue and Singleton Avenue, according to city records. In 2017, the federal General Services Administration began the process of selling off this surplus land. At that time, approximately 15 acres were sold to Carmel Partners, 12.8 acres were conveyed to the Alameda Housing Authority and two acres to Habitat for Humanity. In August 2020, the Planning Board approved the North Housing Development Plan for the AHA and HH parcels, which approved up to 586 units.
Overall, Carmel Partners has completed more than 43,000 apartments nationally with 10,000 currently in development or under construction, according to information from the firm. In the Bay Area, Carmel Partners has built more than 2,700 apartments with 1,200 more in development.
