Avalon Bay Complex: 100% Rental, Mostly One Bedroom

Avalon Bay Project Morphs Into Another Emeryville "Men's Dorm"

Shellmound Avenue's massive residential development, Avalon Bay, is finalizing entitlements for its eight story apartment complex that is a near copy of other recent Emeryville residential projects in two key aspects; it's to be 100% rental and comprised mostly of one bedroom units.  The developer has changed the proposed apartment complex, following the super heated Bay Area market for one bedroom rental units.  The developer, also called Avalon Bay, has shaved off almost 50 units from an initial iteration but the broad make-up of the project has morphed into what has been called a "men's dormitory" or "techie dorm" housing style with 11 studios and 96 one bedroom apartments and 98 two bedroom apartments.

 The Tattler reported in September on San Pablo Avenue's Maz Apartments, another 100% rental housing project that can fairly be called a men's dormitory with it's mostly one bedroom apartments.  The target renter for that project according to its developer will be singles in their twenties and thirties able to pay high rents.

These all rental mostly one and two bedroom apartment projects in Emeryville pull in San Francisco techies (mostly men) seeking lower rent than that city offers plus the promise of an easy commute to the South of Market area or the Financial District.  Avalon Bay is a project that the development company says will 'pencil out' for them with the current configuration and they're poised to maximize profits by catering to these San Francisco workers with this offering of mostly one bedroom apartments.  Critics have drawn attention to the general lack of civically minded people these techie dorms will attract, notably the blog E'Ville Eye.

Avalon Bay will include 11 studio apartments, 96 one bedroom units, 98 two bedroom units, 6 three bedroom units all on a podium above a massive parking garage plus retail along the street front.  Being a virtually all residential project, Avalon Bay will not contribute revenue for the City of Emeryville as these kinds of projects have been shown to be revenue neutral, taking in services at least as much as they pay out to City Hall.

City Hall has not shown how this project is 'family friendly', housing they say is critically needed in Emeryville in order to support the schools.

The developer, Avalon Bay Communities, a Virginia based Real Estate Investment Trust says the project, located near the Ashby exit at Interstate 80 will break ground later in the year or possibly in early 2016.

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The Avalon Bay complex

Emeryville Closes Out Year With Lots of 100% Rental Development

More Than 1000 Residential Rental Units Coming

Change in Emeryville Demographics 

Where's the Public Debate?

Opinion
The City of Emeryville is ending the year with a big push to add new residents.  Lots of residents, all in four 100% rental development projects.  These four projects will deliver 1045 new units and increase the population of our town by 15%.  In a city with only 10,000 residents, that represents a substantial increase.  After years of condo building in Emeryville, these all rental projects are a real change and will dramatically transform the demographics for our town.

The following new projects are either already approved or moving to approval and are 100% rental:

• Sherwin Williams Project: 460 units
• Avalon Bay project: 260 units
• Marketplace phase one: 225 units
• Maz project: 100 units

At 1045 rental units, some with more than one dweller, the increase in population will probably be over 1500.  Adding to this number are other rental units at new development projects either approved, recently finished or in the pipeline that are not 100% rental but contain some condos.

A new Emeryville resident

Rental residents tend to be different from homeowner residents.  They aren't as vested in their towns and they tend to be less civically minded.  Recent renters in Emeryville specifically have been primarily made up of San Francisco tech workers looking for cheaper rent than San Francisco offers.  These workers tend to be single and work long hours meaning they tend to drive in, "cocoon" and drive out.  The result is an under utilized commons, with a populace that generally feels little allegiance to the neighborhood or the town.   Also, renters tend to look less critically at civic projects involving raises in property taxes, increasing the opportunity for abuses by decision makers and developers that would stand to benefit.

Emeryville is experiencing this 100% rental building boom because the rental market in the Bay Area is extremely robust right now and developers are eager to cash in.  With its well earned reputation for accommodating developers, City Hall has stepped up to the plate and quickly moved these projects forward.  

The City Council is letting this wave wash over us.  They're letting the developers do what they want to do...and what they want to do now is build rental units.  What the Council is not allowing is a public debate about this.

Emeryville City Council members have historically never been fond of city planning.  They've never been known to defer to planning regulations, opting instead to let developers build our town as the real estate market dictates....so there's no change here in that regard.  But what IS different, what HAS changed is that profit maximization in the market now dictates that 100% rental only projects be built, and that promises to change our town.  We need to be aware this resulting development will be here for generations to come.  Is this something we want?  Is it wise?  Is this something that will improve our town?  

There should be a public debate about this.

Avalon Bay: Another 100% Rental Housing Project Proposed for Emeryville

The San Francisco Business Times reports on the impending Avalon project, another 100% rental residential project slated for Emeryville.   San Pablo Avenue's Maz project, the Market Place development and the Sherwin Williams project are all new housing projects proposed at 100% rental.  Rental real estate is the new craze among profit seeking developers since the return on this kind of housing is so high right now.  Condos have been shown to be profitable in this market as well, but not as much as rental projects.  
So rental projects are what we're getting in Emeryville.  
Years from now people will look back on this latest construction boom and ask why there were so many 100% rental projects built during this time.  The answer will be that because of specific market peculiarities in the years 2013 and 2014, rental units turned out to be the best way for developers to maximize their profits at the time.
  
Read about the latest development to happen without planning oversight in our town as reported by the SF Business Times: 

Dec 12, 2013, 2:45pm PST

Avalon Bay dives into Emeryville with 260-unit project

 Blanca Torres

Reporter-

San Francisco Business Times

AvalonBay is working to entitle a 260-unit, eight-story apartment building in Emeryville that could break ground in 2015.

The developer is in contract to buy a 2.3-acre site at 6701 Shellmond St. and expects to get city approvals for the project by the middle of next year.

“The Emeryville, Oakland, Berkeley corridor is appealing,” said Jeff White, senior development director for AvalonBay. “We see good opportunities to provide as good or better quality of living as in San Francisco at substantially less cost.”

The project, right by the Ashby exit off Interstate 80, is next to Ex’pression College of the Arts and across Ashby from Berkeley's Aquatic Park.

MBH Architects came up with design to fit on a triangular site that is now home to a warehouse occupied by Nady Systems, a designer and maker of wireless microphones and other audio equipment.

The building will contain units ranging from studios to three bedrooms ranging from 770 to 1,525 square feet with views of the Berkeley Hills to the east and the bay to the west.

AvalonBay is also building a 94-unit building at the corner of Third and Addison streets in Berkeley, which is also off of Interstate 80 just one exit up from the Emeryville site.

The Berkeley project is next to an Amtrak station and within walking distance to the 4th Street retail corridor. The project was started by Archstone, a company that sold all its assets to Equity Residential and AvalonBay last year.

Blanca Torres covers East Bay real estate for the San Francisco Business Times.