Navy puts 14.9-acre former housing site up for auction

On Wednesday, April 12, the Navy will auction off part of its long-vacant property known as North Housing. The opening bid for the 14.9-acre parcel is $5 million. The federal government’s General Services Administration will conduct the auction. 

In the coming months, the Navy will turn over another part of the same neighborhood to the Alameda Housing Authority and Habitat for Humanity. In addition, the Alameda Unified School District will receive the nearby former Island High School and Woodstock Child Development Center properties. 

A complicated land disposal process for the area began about 10 years ago when the Coast Guard decided not to accept the housing site. Coast Guard personnel had been living in Navy-owned townhouses until they vacated them in 2005. The Coast Guard manages its adjacent Marina Village Family Housing complex between the North Housing and Bayport neighborhoods. 

In a deal worked out with the city, 13 acres will go to the city’s Housing Authority to provide 90 units of homeless accommodations, along with a community center and park space. A two-acre “self-help parcel” will go to Habitat for Humanity for 30 units. The remaining market-rate parcel, which will be sold at auction, is comprised of 14.9 acres and is authorized for 315 housing units. The land disposal deal became an amendment to the 1996 Community Reuse Plan for the Naval Air Station.

“The Navy expects to close escrow with the successful bidder(s) late in calendar year 2017 or early 2018,” said Anthony Megliola, base closure manager for the Navy. 

“The Navy is extremely excited to see this property moving into the transfer and redevelopment stages after so many years of effort spent on the environmental cleanup and reuse planning efforts,” said Megliola. “It will be especially gratifying to see a revitalized community that includes new school facilities, a park with sports fields and new housing replace the existing site that has stood dormant for many years.”

The new owner-developer of the market rate parcel, Admirals Cove, will be required to construct all new infrastructure, and extend Mosley Avenue and Singleton Avenue to their terminus at Alameda Landing. The developer must also create a utility district to fund ongoing maintenance so as not to burden the city’s General Fund. It is anticipated that the new developer will demolish all the buildings currently on the site. The developer will also construct a new street grid between Singleton and Mosley avenues. The housing will be a mix of apartments and townhouses.

Moving forward with the homeless and self-help housing and the school facilities depends on the timeline of the new market rate developer and the construction of new infrastructure. The long-shuttered Island High School and the adjacent child development center, for example, will need a new water main along Singleton Avenue. 

The homeless and self-help housing sites will depend on new infrastructure. The Housing Authority and Habitat for Humanity parcels are adjacent to the Alameda Landing residential and commercial neighborhood where Target is located.

The total number of housing units that will be built in the market rate area is yet to be known. While the reuse plan amendment stipulates a total of 315 units, with 15 percent as affordable, the developer could apply for a density bonus of up to a 35 percent increase. The density bonus allows for additional market-rate units to be constructed if a certain number of additional affordable units are built, depending on the formula for the percentage increase requested. The maximum increase would be 110 units.

“The Navy thanks the community for its patience as we worked through this multi-faceted land disposal process,” said Megliola. 

Estuary Park in the North Housing area was given to the city about two years ago. New all-weather lighted sports fields are already under construction.