Grubb picks up entitled Berkeley housing project for $10M

Grubb Properties has picked up an acre site approved for 161 apartments in Berkeley for $10 million.

The North Carolina-based developer bought the property at 2015 Blake Street, just south of Downtown, the San Francisco Business Times reported. The seller was Richard Nagler Properties, based in the city.

Walnut Creek-based Laconia Development entitled the 161-unit project at the end of 2021. Last month, it filed plans to build 58 more apartments in exchange for affordable units in accordance with a state density bonus law. The number of affordable units was not disclosed.

Plans called for a three-story and eight-story building with studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments, which would share the lot with two Victorian houses the company aimed to restore. Laconia proposed redeveloping the site in 2018.

The 219 white, salmon and brown apartments, designed by Oakland-based Lowney Architecture, would rise up behind the historic homes.

Grubb now plans to partner with Laconia on the project, Emily Ethridge, a spokeswoman for the firm, told the Business Times. She didn’t respond to questions about the nature of the partnership.

Laconia CEO Paul Menzies said the company wants to break ground by the end of the year.

The Berkeley project would be Grubb’s third in the Bay Area after it opened an office in San Jose in 2021.

In September, Grubb and San Jose-based Swenson broke ground on a 157-unit apartment complex at 412 Madison Street in Jack London Square in Oakland, of which Grubb has a 75-percent stake.

Both the Blake Street and the Madison Street projects will be built under Grubb’s Link Apartments brand, which Grubb has said emphasizes affordability by design.

As of the first quarter of last year, Grubb had 5,000 units under the Link brand, which targets households making between 60 percent and 140 percent of area median income.

The Charlotte-based firm, led by CEO Clay Grubb — also the author of a book on affordable housing — has projects in more than a dozen cities, including Atlanta and New York, with major affordable housing plans in the Financial District and Long Island City.  

Laconia suffered an East Bay development setback last month when the City of Richmond rejected its longtime plans to build 154 homes on the city’s waterfront.

— Dana Bartholomew