Pleasanton City Council members gave a warm early reception Tuesday to a nonprofit's plan for 142 affordable apartments on Chabot Drive, while pressing the developer on how the $107.6 million project would be paid for and whether it includes enough parking, the Pleasanton Weekly reported.
No vote was taken. Bridge Housing, a San Francisco nonprofit, has not filed a formal application and asked the council for direction on its preliminary plans. The complex would be the city's first development made up entirely of affordable units.
The plan
Bridge would tear down a three-story, 24,000-square-foot office building at 4780 Chabot Drive and put up a six-story building on the 1.39-acre site, rising to as much as 75 feet, holding one-, two- and three-bedroom rentals, with parking below ground and a deck on the roof. Rents would be restricted for 141 units:
- 14 at 30% of area median income, the extremely low-income tier
- 15 at 50%
- 55 at 60%
- 57 at 70%
One more unit would house a manager. Stephen Clarke, Bridge's senior vice president of acquisitions and development, said a two-bedroom at the 60% level would rent for just under $2,300, compared with about $3,200 at market rate. He called the site, surrounded by similarly tall office buildings, "a unicorn property" for affordable housing, and council members agreed the location fits.
Money and parking
Bridge plans to combine several funding streams, among them federal and state tax credits, tax-exempt bonds and a permanent loan. It also wants the city to route affordable-housing fees owed by private builders to the project instead of the city's Lower Income Housing Fund.
