Real estate development and acquisition company Wood Partners announced last December that it would soon break ground for Alta Buena Vista, a 372-unit luxury mixed-use project at 1501 Buena Vista Ave., the site of the long-closed Del Monte Warehouse (“Del Monte Project Rebooted,” Dec. 17, 2019). The developers have made good on their word and work is underway. 

Wood Partners is using plans that the City Council approved in 2014 for Tim Lewis Communities. Lewis’ company sold the property with all its entitlements to Wood Partners last year. These plans include live-work, lofts, townhomes and flats. There will be no single-family detached homes in the mix.

When Wood Partners announced its acquisition of the site, the company envisioned the development there as “a 10-acre community (that) will blend the old and the new, mixing the existing six-acre historic brick Del Monte Warehouse with new apartments and retail spaces designed by BAR Architects.”

According to the plans approved in 2014, recreational boat and small-craft rentals and sales, artist studios and galleries, a farmer’s markets and community gardens help make up the broader picture for the site. The developer says that Alta Buena Vista will feature a fitness center, resident lounge, multiple roof decks and 11,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space. Improvements at the site also include: 

• Extending Clement Avenue along the northern frontage of the Del Monte Warehouse from Entrance Road to Atlantic Avenue 
• Refurbishing the sidewalk along Buena Vista Avenue with a planter strip and street trees
• Placing sidewalks on both sides of all new streets with pedestrian crossings at all intersections
• Installing a traffic signal with pedestrian countdowns at Sherman Street and Clement Avenue.

At the heart of the project lies the 240,000-square-foot brick warehouse that California Packing Corporation — or “Calpak” — built in 1927. Calpak named the building for its premium brand, Del Monte. Architect Philip Brand designed most of the company’s warehouses in the same style, often referred to as “modernist brick.”

Wood Partners plans to complete the project in early 2022.