A four-acre Berkeley parking lot, created by tearing down homes and businesses in a predominately Black neighborhood, will return to residences with more than 600 apartments, half as affordable housing.
The West Lot of Bay Area Rapid Transit’s Ashby station will be transformed to mixed-use space, according to plans unveiled for about 100 South Berkeley community members Thursday.
“Before it was a station and a parking lot, it was homes. And when BART was created, those homes went away, and those homes were mostly owned by Black African American households,” said Carli Paine, a manager of the transit-oriented development team at BART. “Part of the goal of this project is to restore that community fabric. Our hope is that there will be homes for people who once left and can come back to.”
Restoring historic community
In collaboration with the city of Berkeley, BART chose a development group called the Adeline Alliance Partners to lead the project.
The group consists of developers from The Pacific Companies, an Idaho-based group, and two Bay Area companies – Strategic Urban Development Alliance based in Oakland and Relequity Enterprises, based in Hayward. A fourth developer, Resources for Community Development, based in Berkeley, will partner with the alliance.
Relequity founder Justin Smith said that having two local Black-owned businesses, like his and Strategic Urban Development Alliance, involved in the Ashby project will help to “bring our talent home.” Smith said the goal of the project is ultimately “heads on beds” and “roofs over heads.”
Wihelmenia Wilson, executive director of Healthy Black Families, said her Berkeley-based public health organization was integral to the planning by bringing in community voices. One of the top community concerns, she said, was affordable housing.
“Affordable housing is one,” Wilson said. “But in this community that was the economic center of historic Black Berkeley, it’s also the ability to afford housing.”
Securing jobs and long-term equity
Wilson said workforce development aligned with the multimillion-dollar project will help create a community that can afford housing.
“Most of the developments in the area have piss-poor track records of employing people from the community, especially Black and brown people, and so we’re seeking to change that,” she said.
The Friends of Adeline, a group that advocates for inclusiveness in the urban renewal of South Berkeley, serves as a conduit between the Adeline Alliance developers and the many schools and organizations that train young people of color in the skilled trades.
Linda Olivenbaum, a member of the Friends of Adeline, said that connecting with youth apprenticeships now is important, because training requires at least one year of education and hands-on work. Construction of the Ashby project is expected to start in three years.
“As we work for that equity, we’re not only working for just the Black community, we’re working for the whole community.”
— Wilhelmenia Wilson, executive director of Healthy Black Families
“A lot of times developers say we can’t find workers of color, so we’re going to hire people from way, way out to come here,” Olivenbaum said. “We want to make that impossible for them to say.”
Wilson said that it is important to remember that when the tides rise for vulnerable communities, the tides rise for all.
“As we work for that equity, we’re not only working for just the Black community, we’re working for the whole community,” she said.
Final design plans that incorporate community feedback are to be presented in the fall.
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