By Jack Stubbs
As the City of Berkeley continues to grapple with the region’s housing crisis, project teams continue to bring more units online, as well as move projects through the City’s design review process in order to meet escalating demand.
Applicant NX Ventures recently submitted a preliminary application to the City, which outlines the developer’s plans for a proposed project located at 2900 Shattuck Avenue. The application calls for the removal of an existing one-story commercial structure to allow for the creation of a new 10-story, 221-unit mixed-use residential development, which will consist of a mix of studios, one- and two-bedroom units. Several units will also be set aside as low income housing.
Along with the proposal at 2900 Shattuck, NX Ventures aims to build more than 2,000 units throughout Berkeley’s downtown core, with several project applications recently submitted in partnership with Trachtenberg Architects.
As one notable example, in late April, the Berkeley-based development firm filed a pre-application for the construction of a 16-story, mixed-use building located nearby at 2420 Shattuck Avenue, which, if ultimately approved, will include 146 dwelling units, ground-level lobbies and commercial space.
For both projects, among others in the pipeline, the design team will look to leverage the State of California Density Bonus Program, which will allow the project team to build 50 percent more units than zoning typically allows, provided that a certain number of affordable units are included in the plans.
The State Density Bonus Program, launched in 2021 and meant to encourage the development of affordable and senior housing, stipulated that residential projects in California with on-site affordable housing could receive a density bonus of up to 50 percent. Previously, the maximum bonus was 35 percent.
NX Ventures’ projects on Shattuck Avenue are not the only multifamily project the company has in the pipeline. In late January, the company filed another pre-application for a 210-unit multifamily development in partnership with Trachtenberg Architects located at 1598 University Avenue. Roughly one mile northwest of the endeavors on Shattuck Avenue, the project will include 4,780 square feet of ground-level retail space, a 34-car garage and a 5,000 square foot garden, among other amenities.
The developer’s attempts to provide the city with much-needed housing inventory are just a few among other contributions to the growing crisis. In March, PGIM filed plans to build a 326-unit project – also designed by Trachtenberg Architects – at 2190 Shattuck, where the company had been previously approved to construct 274 units. At 2150 Kittredge, plans are moving ahead to construct a seven-story, 169-unit residential apartment building, a collaboration between East Beach Capital, Pinnacle Partners and Kava Massih Architects.
In mid-June, an entity associated with the Goldenberg family trust issued a pre-application for a new 112-unit apartment development project in Berkeley located at 2847 Shattuck Avenue. The proposal for the nine-story property will include an affordable component as well, which has not been finalized at this point, according to the Registry’s reporting at the time of writing. The site currently has a single-story commercial building on it, which is used as a call center. The plans call for this building to be demolished to allow for the new structure to be completed.
