Signature Plans for Townhomes on Oakland Park Site

Signature Development Group is hoping to turn a planned waterfront community park in Oakland into a townhome development.

The Oakland-based company has filed applications with the city to build approximately 84 townhomes on a 2.8-acre vacant lot it owns, the San Francisco Business Times reported. The parcel is part of a 4-acre property where the city has long planned to build a waterfront community park called Estuary Park.

Signature is the head developer behind Brooklyn Basin, a $2 billion, 65-acre project consisting of thousands of homes, commercial space and approximately 30 parks on the Oakland waterfront. The developer was previously slated to transfer ownership of the parcel to the city after completing remediation work but has recently been looking to keep the site to build housing there instead.

The townhome development would shrink Estuary Park if approved. The city gave the green light to the current park design in January.

The housing push on the site comes as Signature seeks to make the Brooklyn Basin project more financially feasible.

“We’re proposing housing there for a number of reasons, but one of them is the economics have changed here, and we need the housing there to keep moving forward with the project,” Mike Ghielmetti, founder and president of Signature Development, told the Business Times.

The Oakland City Council would have to approve the change. If it gets the thumbs up, it wouldn’t add to the 3,700 units already approved for Brooklyn Basin but simply move the planned units from other parcels to that 2.8-acre site. Approximately 1,500 units have been built at Brooklyn Basin so far.

Estuary Park, which would sit in a smaller footprint next to Signature’s townhomes, would be funded by the $198 million bond Measure DD, aimed at rehabilitating parks and improving water quality, that voters passed in 2002. The already-approved version of the park would include boat launching ramps, walking trails, a food truck plaza, a dog park, picnic space, a multipurpose lawn, restrooms, lighting, parking spots and other upgrades.

On Wednesday, Signature is scheduled to present three options for development of its site to the Oakland Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission. They would ostensibly incorporate a smaller Estuary Park design with the facilities and programs already approved by the city, albeit with altered parking, trail and walkway configurations around the townhomes.

Elsewhere at Brooklyn Basin, Signature Development broke ground on the first phase of development for another parcel with 83 townhomes and 2,663 square feet of retail and community space, Ghielmetti told the Business Times. For the second phase, it’s looking into constructing either a seven-story building with 137 units or a 23-story building with 260 units depending on market conditions when it’s ready to begin construction.

— Chris Malone Méndez