Marea Alta helps fill three critical needs for families in the high-cost San Francisco Bay Area.
First, it provides affordable housing. The new 115-unit development by nonprofit BRIDGE Housing delivers a mix of unit types, including 23 two-bedroom and 36 three-bedroom apartments to serve large households. In addition, six units are built out for mobility-impaired households, and five are designed for hearing-impaired residents.
That alone would be enough, but Marea Alta does more by putting residents close to transportation. The community is located just across the street from the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) station in San Leandro, giving residents convenient access to the region’s train system.
And, third, the development addresses another big challenge—the lack of affordable and quality child care in the area. Recognizing that the issue keeps many parents out of the workforce, BRIDGE Housing included space for a large child-care center at the property. Set to open in early 2018, the center will serve Marea Alta residents and other families.
“The location could not be better for parents who are working and take BART,” says Jamie Hiteshew, project manager. “They’ll be able to drop off their children and then walk on to BART and then at the end of the day do the reverse.”
The mixed-use development is an improvement over the BART parking lot that used to be on the site. To make up for the lost surface parking, BRIDGE created more than 240 below-grade parking spaces for BART riders at the property.
The development is also notable for its modular construction. The move helped trim some costs at Marea Alta and provided the development team with experience that they can use on future projects, says Hiteshew.
To finance the $58.1 million development, BRIDGE leveraged local funds to raise significant state, federal, and private investments. With just under $10 million of funds committed from the city of San Leandro, the team raised more than $45 million of investment from other sources. Financing includes low-income housing tax credits awarded by the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee and purchased by Wells Fargo.
BRIDGE leaders recently broke ground on the project’s second phase, an 85-unit senior housing development.
