The Alameda City Council unanimously agreed to direct staff to move forward with the West Midway Project at Alameda Point at its July 5 meeting.

The project includes 789 housing units with more than half of the units at affordable housing rates. The project includes 309 low- and very low-income units for households earning between 30% and 80% of area median income (AMI), 51 moderate-income units for households making up to 120% of AMI and 67 affordable by design units for households making between 120% and 180% of AMI. The remaining 362 housing units will be market-rate units. The project also includes 10,000 square feet of commercial space.

Brookfield Properties, Catellus Development Corp. and MidPen Housing are the project developers. According to a San Francisco Business Times report, the first permits for predevelopment work at West Midway could be issued by February 2023. Construction will begin soon after. Construction will be broken into multiple phases.

The project was set in motion after the City Council approved the consolidation of properties occupied by three supportive housing providers (“Developers Make Cases to Council,” Feb. 5, 2019). The City Council approved the consolidation of these properties when it agreed on the creation of the Rebuilding the Supportive Housing at Alameda Point (RESHAP) project. RESHAP will allow the Collaborating Partners (Alameda Point Collaborative, Building Futures with Women and Children and Operation Dignity) to own 9.7 acres. The groups once owned all 34 acres. The 309 low- and very low-income units will be built in the RESHAP area.

Originally, the RESHAP area was supposed to adjoin the West Midway Project to the east, but during the developer’s preliminary planning processes, the city requested that the partners consider moving it to the northwest portion of the Project, adjacent to Pan Am Way. This adjustment was thought by planning staff to create more synergy between the project and the Bayport community across Main Street, according to the staff report.

The project also includes $2.5 million in cash contributions from the developers for the future Central Gardens Park and retention of existing daycare facility.

Now, city staff will negotiate a disposition and development agreement with Brookfield Homes and Catellus. Then, staff will bring the project to planning board this fall and back to council for final approval around December, according to reports.