SRM Associates eye 201-unit apartment building in Berkeley

Eight-story, mixed-use building would replace 63K sf of offices

srmErnst Development Partners' Joe Ernst and 2100 Milvia Street in Berkeley
srmErnst Development Partners' Joe Ernst and 2100 Milvia Street in Berkeley (Google Maps, srmErnst Development Partners)

UPDATED: JUNE 2 at 11:45 a.m.:

SRM Associates aims to build a 201-unit apartment complex in Downtown Berkeley.

The Oakland-based developer has filed plans to build the eight-story highrise at 2100 Milvia Street, the San Jose Mercury News reported, citing city documents.

It would replace a three-story, 63,000-square-foot office building now occupied by a software company and an architectural firm two blocks west of the UC Berkeley campus. 

SRM Associates has owned the 0.6-acre property at Milvia and Addison streets since 1996, according to county records reviewed by the Mercury News. Its assessed value is $11.4 million.

Plans call for 201 apartments and an unspecified amount of commercial space for ground-floor shops and restaurants.

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

SRM Associates was founded by Steve Meckfessel in 1992. At one point, Meckfessel was a “regular lecturer at the Haas Graduate School of Business at UC Berkeley,” according to the San Francisco Business Times.

Berkeley has been undergoing drastic change, with numerous apartment highrises in development around UC Berkeley.

As of March, six towers between 16 and 28 stories are proposed in Berkeley’s central core, enabled by state legislation that makes it easier to build residential buildings regardless of whether cities want them or not. Since 1971, only one highrise has been built above 13 stories in the city.

Correction: The previous story misidentified the developer behind the 2100 Milvia Street project.

— Dana Bartholomew

Read more