Ancora Place transforms a key midblock parcel—formerly used for light industrial and storage purposes—into a community-centered development with 77 affordable homes in Oakland, California.
PROJECT DETAILS
DEVELOPER: Satellite Affordable Housing Associates
ARCHITECTS: Phillips Win Architecture and PYATOK architecture + urban design
GENERAL CONTRACTOR: Cahill Contractors
MAJOR FUNDERS: Alameda County; California Community Reinvestment Coalition; city of Oakland; Community Arts Stabilization Trust; Community Vision Capital & Consulting; Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco; First Citizens Bank; California Department of Housing and Community Development; Oakland Housing Authority
The community offers studio to three-bedroom apartments for individuals and families earning between 15% and 60% of the area median income, with 16 units set aside for residents who were homeless and have a mental health diagnosis.
While Ancora Place is one of the densest mixed-use developments along the corridor, it’s also an oasis in the urban environment. The five-story, L-shaped building shelters an expansive courtyard populated with picnic and play areas, a community garden, and performance space. The courtyard adjoins the EastSide Arts Alliance, an arts and cultural organization, and is equipped for community gatherings.
Developed by nonprofit Satellite Affordable Housing Associates (SAHA), the property has earned GreenPoint Rated Platinum certification, fully incorporating passive and active environmental systems, including vertical sunshades and rooftop solar panels. Modular construction was also used for the framing.
Sasha Moravec
More than 10,000 applications were received for the affordable homes.
The $77 million development harnessed investments from the city of Oakland and Alameda County as well as four separate programs administered by the California Department of Housing and Community Development, including the Housing Accelerator program, which helps finance shovel-ready projects without low-income housing tax credits.
“Ancora Place adds deeply affordable housing and more than 15,000 square feet of landscaped open space to what used to be an industrial lot along Oakland’s longest commercial corridor,” says Carrie Lutjens, associate director, real estate development, at SAHA. “The building’s exterior mural, which spans the length of the building and employed local artists through a long-standing collaboration between Civic Design Studio and the Eastside Arts Alliance is a testament to the vibrancy and diversity of the neighborhood, the importance of local partnerships, and the Bay Area’s history of fusing art and activism through muralism.”
