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San Francisco

Grosvenor minds gap in Berkeley resi market

London-based property group gets city approval, $90 million loan from J.P. Morgan

Steven Buster with Grosvenor and 1951 Shattuck Avenue
Steven Buster with Grosvenor and 1951 Shattuck Avenue (LinkedIn, Grosvenor, Shattuck)

Grosvenor has an approval from the city and a $90 million construction loan in hand for a 163-unit apartment building a block away from the UC-Berkeley campus.

The plan for 1951 Shattuck Avenue calls for studio, one, two and three-bedroom floor plans that range from 522 to 1,402 square feet. The 12-story building will also have a dorm-like feel, with a coworking area, lounge, private and meeting rooms.

London-based Grosvenor got planning approval from the City of Berkeley’s Zoning Adjustments Board; the construction loan came from J.P. Morgan.The project is scheduled for completion by the second quarter of 2024.

Berkeley is amid a housing crunch, especially for UC-Berkeley students, which has led to the city revamping zoning ordinances to foster development of new housing in faster time frames. The school–flagship of the University of California System–has been hit with lawsuits recently from students with complaints that the school has been accepting more students than its campus and surrounding city can house.

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Save Berkeley Neighborhoods filed a lawsuit against UC Berkeley in March. The organization argues that UC violated state environmental laws — the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA — by increasing enrollment by 30 percent over the past 17 years without properly analyzing the effects more students would have on housing, among other local circumstances.

The university was ordered to cut in-person fall enrollment by 2,629 and the city has been working to address the housing concerns of students and residents. Today, just 22 percent of roughly 40,000 students live in housing owned by the school, according to the recent report.

That puts the project on Shattuck Avenue in line with larger efforts to bring “much-needed homes to an undersupplied market,” Steve Buster, a senior vice president for the developper, said in a statement.

Along with finding more housing from students, the city is state mandated to build 9,000 units of housing by the housing element project. Berkeley still has to develop plans for over 4,000-units to be built by 2031.

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Bay AreaBerkeleyEast BaySustainability