BERKELEY — An agreement four years in the making to bring transit-oriented housing to Berkeley is nearly complete with BART and Berkeley officials outlining terms for developing near Ashby Station.
After what officials say has been 18 months of negotiations, Berkeley councilmembers voted Monday night to direct the city manager to draft and enter into an agreement with BART detailing how the two entities will bring hundreds of new housing units to the city.
“This will deliver hundreds of units of affordable housing along a major transit corridor, enabling Berkeley to continue its efforts to address affordability and homelessness through smart growth strategies that reduce traffic and environmental impacts,” Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin said in a press release announcing the decision Tuesday. “These negotiations have resulted in a win-win outcome that will bring positive development to this historic neighborhood.”
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The terms of the agreement, published in a staff report ahead of Monday’s meeting, call for the city to relinquish its right to air-rights over a 4.4-acre BART-owned parcel bounded by Adeline Street, Ashby Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Way in exchange for ownership of another 1.9-acre parcel bounded by Woolsey, Tremont, Adeline and Essex streets.
The city has had the option to purchase the air rights of the larger lot, referred to as the West Lot, for $55,000 since 1964. But city real estate advisors warned that doing so would result in dual ownership between the city and BART, complicate negotiations and make it challenging to acquire project funding, according to city staff.
Both properties would be developed with housing. BART officials have committed to dedicating at least 50% of the first 602 units built on the West Lot as affordable. At least 301 of the homes built and a minimum of 35% of total units must be affordable if more than 602 are built. A contribution of $26.5 million from Berkeley’s affordable housing fund will be invested into the projects with $18.5 million going to the West Lot development and $8 million to the East Lot.
BART has also committed to other community benefits as part of the agreement terms, including giving Berkeley Flea Market a permanent home and preserving 5,000 square feet of ground floor space for nonprofits, community-based organizations, or minority-owned businesses, including Berkeley Flea Market administrators, to rent at 50% market rate prices or below.
Also key to the agreement is a commitment to “reverse and repair the inter-generational harm that resulted from the development of the Ashby BART station and redlining,” with a focus on Berkeley’s Black residents. Equitable Black Berkeley, an initiative of the mayor’s office in partnership with the organization Healthy Black Families, is behind a proposal calling for an unspecified portion of revenue generated from the project to be put in a fund used for and by the greater South Berkeley community.
Investments into public infrastructure including sidewalks, plazas and streetscaping will also be required.
“This agreement is a reflection of BART’s goals of addressing climate and equity challenges and prioritizing affordable housing in areas that have seen historic displacement of African American families,” BART Director Lateefah Simon said in the press release. “[Transit-oriented development] projects such as Ashby will help invigorate the local and regional economy and create new opportunities for people who live, work, and play near our stations.”
A final, legally binding agreement is expected to be approved this fall, after which the city and transit agency will begin seeking out developers for their respective properties. Development could begin by 2026.