Sept. 8 was a day of celebration for affordable housing developers as they joined NHC member BRIDGE Housing Corporation to celebrate the completion of MacArthur Station Garage at a ribbon cutting ceremony in Oakland, CA. The parking garage for MacArthur Station BART customers opened a week later on Sept. 15.
The new garage is a major component of the seven-acre development that will eventually include over 620 multifamily homes, including over 100 below market priced units and nearly 43,000 square feet of commercial and retail space. Financing for the MacArthur development was provided by several financers, including the California Department of Housing and Community Development and the Oakland Redevelopment Successor Agency. The space was developed by the MacArthur Transit Community Partners, LLC, an affiliate of BRIDGE Housing.
“Community development near transit makes sense for people, neighborhoods and the environment,” Cynthia Parker, president and CEO of BRIDGE Housing said in a press release announcing the ribbon cutting. “We envision MacArthur Station as a vibrant, pedestrian- and bike-friendly hub with enhanced public transit access to jobs, services and amenities.”
Construction of the garage and residential housing options on the MacArthur site will provide Oakland residents with affordable, transit-accessible, mixed-use communities that add to the ethnic and economic diversity the city is already known for. This diversity and Oakland’s emergence as a city that leads the push for affordable housing in the Bay Area are just a few reasons why we chose to host our Solutions 2014 Conference there next month. As the city continues to adopt policies and foster new commercial and residential development, it is the perfect place to discover how housing practitioners, policymakers, advocates and researchers are working together to ensure decent, affordable housing is accessible to more people. Visit our website to learn more about the Solutions Conference and register.
The first residential building on the MacArthur site, Mural, is expected to be completed by spring 2015 and will include 90 units for residents with incomes between 30 and 50 percent of the area median income.