R2 Building aims to add 17 more floors to a proposed apartment tower in Downtown Oakland.
An affiliate of the Oakland-based developer, which emerged out of the defunct RAD Urban, filed plans for a 39-story residential tower at 2044 Franklin Street, SFYimby reported.
The updated filing — which includes scant details — is based on RAD Urban’s plans for the 0.59-acre site at Franklin and 21st streets that go back to 2016.
The original plans called for a 40-story modular tower, plus a 28-story building at 1433 Webster Street, both using modular construction.
In 2017, RAD Urban updated its plans, knocking the residential highrise down to 29 floors containing 184 units, including five townhome-style units in a podium building; 5,000 square feet of shops and restaurants; and 60,000 square feet of open space.
In 2018, the Franklin Street project was whittled down again to 22 floors, but with 357 small apartments. Plans for the adjacent building at 1433 Webster Street were to rise to 29 floors, with 179 apartments above 60,000 square feet of offices and 1,130 square feet of storefronts.
It’s not clear if the Webster Street tower is still on the drawing board.
R2 Building, staffed by many of the same people as the former property owner and now-defunct modular construction firm RAD Urban, would only say its latest plans to boost the building to 39 stories are being filed under Senate Bill 330, a sweeping housing measure enacted in 2019.
The fast-track measure has recently been used by developers in tandem with builder’s remedy filings to bypass local zoning in cities with non-compliant housing plans.
When reached for comment, a representative for R2 Building told YIMBY that the “preliminary SB 330 application was recently submitted. We do not have any comment to add at this time.”
R2 Building filed its updated plans through an affiliate, Village Glen Oakland 2, the same limited liability corporation used by RAD Urban in previous filings.
RAD Urban was an offshoot of Nautilus Group; the two firms and R2 Building have all been led by Randall Miller.
— Dana Bartholomew
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