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Satellite Affordable Housing Associates (SAHA) is partnering with St. Mary’s Center to develop 3135 San Pablo Avenue with affordable housing for seniors, including seniors experiencing homelessness.
Project site at 3135 San Pablo Avenue and 967 32nd Street [map source: maps.google.com]
Development Partners
St. Mary’s Center is a local, West Oakland-based non-profit that serves at-risk seniors and preschoolers in the heart of Oakland. The community provides 41 units of transitional housing, education, counseling, case management, housing navigation, and advocacy for their clients. St. Mary’s Center has been present in the neighborhood since 1939, with education, nutrition, and social programs initiated by the Sisters of Social Service. The community incorporated as an independent 501(c)3 public charity in 1992, after decades of operation as a faith-based and volunteer-led neighborhood center. Today, St. Mary’s Center offers comprehensive social and community services in five locations for their clients.
SAHA is a Berkeley-based, non-profit organization that provides quality affordable homes and services that empower its residents and strengthen neighborhoods since 1966. SAHA has been present in the Hoover-Foster-Clawson neighborhood since 1972, when St. Andrew’s Manor was constructed at the corner of Brockhurst St. and San Pablo Ave. More recently, Monarch Homes located on the corner of 33rd St. and San Pablo Ave opened in early 2021. The five-story building provides 51 homes for extremely low- and very low- income seniors, including veterans.
Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects (LMSa)
SAHA and SMC have jointly selected LMSa to serve as the architect for this development. You can learn more about LMSa and their work by visiting their website.
Opportunity and History
“Decades ago, the San Pablo Avenue Corridor was a largely African-American neighborhood with a thriving business, music, and cultural scene. Years of disinvestment in housing, schools and jobs have resulted in abandoned housing, vacant lands, and a neighborhood more often associated with crime than its rich history or its community assets. Oakland is undergoing rapid changes that include new economic development and rising housing prices. These changes bring both opportunities and risks for the Corridor’s neighborhoods, attracting new investments but also creating economic pressure.
With the neighborhood’s help to inform priorities, SAHA and St. Mary’s Center aims to respect the historical significance of the neighborhood, while also increasing housing access to those in need. Both partners are committed to a robust community engagement process to think through how the finished building will relate to its context and can best serve the neighborhood around it.
![Site context diagram [map source: Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60930a5ac00390709d4a577d/1620929022984-ZASHBPW4W6HT2SR8DOCX/210504_SiteDiagram-web.jpg)
Site context diagram [map source: Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects]
At the project site, SAHA and St. Mary’s Center envision a vibrant, resilient and affordable community. Currently, the southern portion of the project site stands vacant. Along the northern 32nd Street boundary, storefronts that were once occupied by commercial tenants now sit empty. St. Andrew’s Plaza, across the street, remains gated off from public access. St. Mary’s Center purchased 967 32nd St. in 2017 and 3135 San Pablo in 2019 with the goal of increasing housing accessibility for all. The center partnered with SAHA in 2020 to develop permanently affordable housing targeted towards at-risk seniors in the neighborhood.
Intersection of San Pablo Avenue and Market Street looking north, then and now.
![Entrance to Monarch Homes, 3268 San Pablo Avenue located just north of the project site [photo by: Russell Abraham, Abraham and Paulin Photography]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60930a5ac00390709d4a577d/1620929231284-GAQ6DKDYEGUSZRUGZLRC/monarchhomes.jpg)
Entrance to Monarch Homes, 3268 San Pablo Avenue located just north of the project site [photo by: Russell Abraham, Abraham and Paulin Photography]
Residents will have access to nearby neighborhood amenities and multiple transit options, as well as on-site amenities and services carefully designed to encourage wellness and engagement in community life. Resident Services will be provided by St. Mary’s center, and will include a comprehensive array of programs designed to help seniors form and strengthen social connections, develop new skills, and maintain the best possible physical, emotional, and cognitive health as they age in place.
Program/Concept
The new development will include 73 apartment homes as well as ground-level retail/commercial use. The development will contribute to improved pedestrian safety, security, and beautification of the neighborhood. The building’s tallest point will face San Pablo Avenue. The building will “step down” to address the more residential scale along Filbert Street. A clearly-defined residential lobby and entrance on 32nd Street will open up visual site lines to the park. Commercial space along San Pablo Avenue would enliven the street and bring needed services to the corridor.
The apartment homes at the new building will be primarily studios and one-bedroom apartments located on the second to sixth floors. Shown below are sample unit layouts.
Sample layout of 1-br and studio units [Image source: Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects]
MacArthur Bart is one mile eastward of the project site, and two AC Transit lines (72 & 88) are located within two blocks of the proposed development.
Community Input Process
Click here for a recap of the community update in October 2021 and the most recent renderings.
Click here for a recap of the latest community presentation held online on August 25th, 2021.
Click here for a recap of the latest community workshop held at St. Andrew’s Plaza on June 23rd, 2021.
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Have questions or comments about SAHA’s planned development at 3135 San Pablo Avenue in West Oakland? Fill out this form or reach out to Carrie Lutjens, Associate Director, at 510.809.2728.