Office-to-Resi Conversion Includes 500 Homes in Livermore

Align Real Estate wants to turn a 27-acre office park in northwest Livermore into 450 homes.

The Miami-based developer faced likely approval to rezone the three-building office park for homes at 3011, 3055 and 3077 Triad Drive, in Isabel, the San Francisco Business Times reported.

The city was slated to amend its Livermore Neighborhood Specific Plan and approve a development agreement with Align on April 1 to accommodate the new residential development.

Align decided to replace the office campus with homes after struggling to find tenants.The buildings are old and not in an ideal location, and lack the amenities tenants now seek, according to a staff report.

Office vacancy in Livermore was 29.8 percent in the fourth quarter, according to CBRE.

The development agreement calls for bulldozing the office buildings and replacing them with 450 condominiums, townhomes and/or apartments.

Brandon Cardwell, Livermore’s innovation and economic development director, said the city met with the developer and hashed out a deal to lock in community benefits like bike lane improvements and $4.5 million toward the city’s community development fund in exchange for rezoning the land for homes.

The new homes would help Livermore meet its state-mandated housing goal to permit 4,570 homes by 2031.

After the rezoning, the 1,138-acre neighborhood plan would include 41 acres of offices and 152 acres for warehouse or industrial uses, plus 19 acres for light industrial, or a business park. The area now has 4.4 million square feet of offices, industrial and commercial buildings, while the plan calls for another 2.1 million square feet in the next two decades.

In May, Walnut-based Shea Homes floated a plan to build 164 condos in northwest Livermore, including 33 affordable units and 17 Americans with Disabilities Act-accessible units. The gray and white complex would include for-sale condos between 1,400 and 1,850 square feet.

In December, the Livermore Planning Commission approved Cornerstone, a 253-unit condominium and affordable housing complex by Idaho-based Pacific Companies at Collier Canyon Road and Constitution Drive, according to the Business Times.

— Dana Bartholomew