JV Behind BART Station Makeover in Oakland Adds Developers

An joint venture has added four more developers to help build a nearly 800-unit retail village in West Oakland.

Developers Strategic Urban Development Alliance in Oakland and China Harbour Engineering in China have added AMG & Associates, Keystone Development Group, The Pacific Companies and Innovative Housing Opportunities to the approved project around the West Oakland BART station at 1451 Seventh Street, SFYimby reported.

The reason behind the addition isn’t clear. In March last year, the City of Oakland was poised to toss an $18 million lifeline to the $700 million project that had skidded sideways for lack of funds.

Rendering of Mandela Station aerial view (JRDV Urban International)

The project, known as Mandela Station, was approved in 2020 for 766 homes and more than 380,000 square feet of offices, shops and restaurants on a 5.6-acre parking lot beneath the elevated BART station.

Oakland’s $18 million in funding — from voter-approved bonds — was to finance the project’s 240-unit affordable housing component.

Now locally based Keystone, led by Art May, has filed a zoning worksheet permit on behalf of the affordable housing joint venture, Mandela Station Affordable LP, according to SF YIMBY.

Plans call for a 241-unit affordable apartment building with 12,900 square feet of ground-floor shops and restaurants, with a parking garage for 50 cars and 158 bicycles.

The six-story complex, to include 59 studios, 137 one-bedroom, 34 two-bedroom and 11 three-bedroom apartments, will be affordable for households that earn between 30 percent and 60 percent of area median income, according to a project website.

Some 60 units would be set aside for formerly homeless residents.

The 1.2-acre project, designed by Orange-based AO, would feature a collage-like facade in gray, orange, green, yellow and blue, with the remainder clad in beige and gray, with vertical windows and exterior balconies and a rooftop deck, according to renderings.

A four-story, townhome-style addition topped with a deck would overlook Chester Street.

A cost and timeline for the project was not disclosed. Mandela Station Affordable LP says it may have the funding.

“Along with the master developer, our team raised a substantial amount of funding for the affordable project and surrounding infrastructure,” according to its recent project application. They also secured a partnership with the Oakland Housing Authority and executed the Lease Option Agreement with BART.”

The original development trio included Strategic Urban Development Alliance, led by Alan Dones; Los Angeles-based Hensel Phelps Construction; and China Harbor Engineering, based in Beijing.

Unlike other Chinese developers such as Oceanwide Holdings, which hit financial shoals and abandoned projects in San Francisco and Los Angeles, China Harbour appears to have steered a steady course.

Dones, who co-founded the Strategic Urban Development Alliance, is also an integral partner in the Black-led African American Sports & Entertainment Group, which just renegotiated its purchase of the Oakland Coliseum from the city for $125 million, after buying the A’s half for $125 million.

Plans call for a $5 billion redevelopment of the former stadium in East Oakland with housing, hotels, a new convention center, a youth amphitheater, restaurants and museums.

— Dana Bartholomew