The Berkeley City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday, Oct. 27, to enter an exclusive negotiating agreement with a team led by Satellite Affordable Housing Associates (SAHA) and Habitat for Humanity East Bay/Silicon Valley, with Deborah D. Matthews Consulting, to develop the city-owned east lot at Ashby BART. We previewed the vote in our look at Tuesday's council agenda.

What would be built

The 1.9-acre lot sits near Woolsey and Tremont streets, behind the Ed Roberts Campus. According to the city staff report, the SAHA team proposes 174 units with 341 bedrooms: a seven-story apartment building plus 12 for-sale townhomes on Tremont Street. The report lists 48 units at 30% of area median income, 51 at 50% and 62 at 60%, with the 12 ownership homes at 70% AMI. Berkeleyside reports the rentals would serve households earning up to 60% of AMI, about $71,000 for an individual and just over $100,000 for a family of four.

How the team was chosen

The city received six responses to its request for proposals, and the seven-member review panel was unanimous. An Oct. 1 public presentation drew more than 100 people and 61 survey responses. A team of Related California and The Kelsey, which proposed 250 units with 353 bedrooms, was named the alternate. Both plans set aside 25% of units for people with disabilities.

Money and timing

The report recommends a $1 million predevelopment loan, with another $7 million already committed to the project, and an exclusivity fee of $100,000. Construction could be finished at the end of 2031. Separately, up to 600 homes are planned on the BART-owned west lot; a 2024 air-rights swap gave Berkeley control of the east lot.

South Berkeley Councilmember Ben Bartlett welcomed the ownership homes. He told Berkeleyside that giving people a chance to own a home and build wealth at the site, rather than only renting, is the "truly reparative" way to address the harm done in the 1960s, when BART cleared blocks of homes and businesses in what was then a predominantly Black neighborhood. "These were homeowners, they were business owners... Replacing someone's house with a government apartment is not repair," he said.