Excerpt:

Exhibits:

1. Block 9 Design Review Plans

2. Draft Resolution

...

BACKGROUND

In June 2015, the City Council unanimously approved the Site A Development Plan for a 68-acre area within Alameda Point that extends generally from the Main Street entrance to Alameda Point to the Seaplane Lagoon and the eastern edge of the Naval Air Station Alameda Historic District (Historic District). The Site A Development Plan implements the Community Reuse Plan, General Plan, the Zoning Ordinance, and the requirements of the Master Infrastructure Plan (MIP) and Town Center Specific Plan. The Site A Development Plan includes:

• 14.8 acres of publicly accessible open space, parks and plazas representing approximately 22% of the 68-acre property, and approximately 16.3 acres of public streets and sidewalks representing an additional 24% of the property.

• 800 of the 1,425 total residential units programmed for Alameda Point and up to 400,000 square feet of commercial development in existing buildings, and approximately 200,000 square feet of retail and hotel space in new buildings. Residential units are provided in transit oriented, multifamily buildings on eight blocks located immediately adjacent to the primary transit corridor along the Ralph Appezzato Memorial Parkway (RAMP) that links a future ferry terminal at the Seaplane Lagoon with the planned Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) service between Site A and downtown Oakland. All residential units on Site A will be within a one-block walk or less of the BRT line, protected bicycle lanes along RAMP and public open space to facilitate a pedestrian oriented environment. Two hundred of the 800 units (25%) are restricted to very low-, low- and moderate-income households.

• 400,000 square feet in existing buildings will be marketed primarily for flexible R&D, office and/or light industrial and retail uses or ancillary retail uses. These uses are complementary to existing uses within the adjacent adaptive reuse area, which include clean-tech companies and food and beverage manufacturing and production uses.

• Dedicated annual funding for transit services and transportation programs. In addition, the project is providing $10 million for construction of the new Ferry Terminal at the Seaplane Lagoon to support expanded ferry services to San Francisco and the region and over $8.5 million to construct complete streets in and around Alameda Point, including key transit improvements such as dedicated bus lanes on RAMP to support expanded transit services from Alameda Point to downtown Oakland and BART

Since the 2015 City Council action on the Development Plan, the Planning Board and the project proponent, Alameda Point Partners (APP), and its team of architects and design professionals have completed the Design Review applications for Blocks 11, 10, 8, 7, and 6, the Phase 1 Waterfront Park, the Neighborhood Park, and West Atlantic Avenue.

Block 9 is the last remaining block in Phase I of the Site A Development that requires Planning Board Design Review approval. In 2016, the Planning Board held several workshops to review the initial designs for Block 9. While the workshops were productive, neither City staff nor APP felt that the design for the site was improving substantially. As a result, APP made the decision to select a new architectural firm to design the building.

On May 22, 2017, the Planning Board held a study session to review the new initial design plans for Block 9, by APP’s new design firm, Pyatok Architects. The Board provided positive feedback on the initial design concepts for the building. Since the May study session, APP, Cypress Equity Investments (APP’s investment partner for Block 9), and Pyatok Architects have been working with staff to refine and complete the design for Block 9.

At this time, staff is recommending that the Planning Board review and approve the design. Exhibit 1 includes the Design Review application and Exhibit 2 includes a draft resolution of approval.