City of Oakland Staff Recommends UrbanCore-EBALDC for E. 12th Street Parcel

OAKLAND, Calif. - Feb. 29, 2016 - PRLog -- On Thursday, February 25, 2016, the City of Oakland released a Staff Report summarizing in detail the review by the City of the proposals submitted by development teams for the E. 12th Street Parcel owned by the City.  The development of this parcel has been highly contested as a result of the efforts of the advocacy group East Lake United for Justice over the last year.  Originally, the City selected UrbanCore Development in 2013 to undertake the development of a market rate high density housing development, and went as far as the Planning Commission approving the entitlements for a 298-unit 24-story tower in April 2015.  Then the Council approved in a first reading in June 2015 of a refinement to the plans to include up to 330 units and the payment of an $8.0 million affordable housing fee for an off-site affordable housing project.  However, the unauthorized release of a confidential City Attorney memo to the Council stating that the property should be sold thru a Surplus Land process, resulted in the Council cancelling a second reading to approve the project.

The City staff then issued a Notice of Intent to Convey Property as a sale or lease on July 14, 2015.  On September 14, 2015, five (5) teams responded with proposals.  After several requests for additional information, the City conducted interviews with three (3) teams in early January 2016.  The final three teams included:

- Satellite Affordable Housing Associates (“SAHA”) and E. 12th Street Wishlist Design Team

- Bridge Housing Corporation and AGI Avant; and

- UrbanCore Development, LLC and East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation

The City established an Evaluation Committee to interview and evaluate the proposals, and provide a recommendation to the City Administrator and Council.

The results of that evaluation resulted in the unanimous recommendation by the Committee and staff to pursue exclusive negotiations with the UrbanCore/EBALDC team.  The City staff report indicates that the UrbanCore/EBALDC proposal best meets the terms established by the city to the greatest degree, including the following:

- maximizes the density of the Property (as defined by the number of occupants),

- maximizes affordable housing production on-site for a range of income levels (30% to 120%) while minimizing City and other public subsidy costs for those BMR untis,

- offers the greatest number of family-sized units (2 and 3 bedrooms),

- provides shared access to all residents to 100% of the building’s common areas,

- offers an option for a 100% PLA project,

- offers the required upfront payment to the City of $4.4 million, and

- offers a 66-year lease on the affordable housing component.

In addition, the staff report indicates that the UrbanCore/EBALDC proposal is also distinguished by being the furthest along in their development schedule.

Michael Johnson, President of UrbanCore, stated in response to receiving the City staff recommendation – “We are proud to receive this endorsement of our proposal and are ready to move forward to develop this project with continued community input.”  Mr. Johnson also stated that “our partnership with EBALDC was intended to develop a mixed-income community that adopts their philosophy of creating healthy neighborhoods.”

The next steps in the process include presentations by all three development teams today, Monday, February 29th at 4:30pm at the Community Economic Development (CED) Committee meeting in City Hall, followed by the anticipated vote on Tuesday, March 1st to select a team to negotiate an Exclusive Negotiations Agreement (ENA).

The UrbanCore team urges all who are interested in supporting this project to attend this meeting at City Hall today.

For further information, please email info@urbancorellc.com.