Curb Appeal

BRIDGE Housing projects blend affordability with quality design

By Robert Carlsen

Carol Galante, president and CEO of San Francisco-based BRIDGE Housing Corp., says the key to building a successful affordable housing project is to do it on time and on budget, which makes the whole process affordable to owners, designers, contractors and buyers.

BRIDGE (Bay Area Residential Investment Development Group), which in 25 years has built more than 13,000 rental and for-sale homes in California, is the largest nonprofit developer in the state. Nearly 70% of the homes it builds are affordable to working families who earn roughly $15,000 to $50,000 annually, and about 78% of its developments are apartments.

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While many of the state’s homebuilders are struggling with the housing slump, BRIDGE has five developments currently in construction and five more in the approval process. Besides its home base of San Francisco, BRIDGE has an office in San Diego and Galante says the firm just opened an office in Los Angeles.

BRIDGE works regularly with a staple of well-known and respected firms, including architectural companies such as McLarand Vasquez Emsiek & Partners, Leddy Maytum Stacy, KTGY Group and Van Meter Williams Pollack. It also works with general contractors James E. Roberts/Obayashi Group, Segue Construction and L&D Construction Co.

Galante says the partnerships depend “on what kind of project we’re doing. Firms have different specialties and styles for an apartment or condo building, a walk-up or a podium building.”

Regardless of the type of building BRIDGE builds, the results have always been impressive visually, says long-time partner Ernie Vasquez, principal at MVE of Irvine and Oakland.

“From an architectural point of view, the end product should have curb appeal and also improve the community,” says Vasquez. “I was raised in East Los Angeles, and I have an appreciation of housing needs and I know some people may not want to see affordable housing come to their neighborhoods. But with BRIDGE’s developments, the results are quality residences with long-term value.”

MVE’s most recent BRIDGE project, Irvington Terrace in Fremont, was the affordable rental component of Irvington Village, a new 8.6-acre mixed-income, master-planned community. The 100-unit Irvington Terrace, completed last summer, is fully occupied, Galante says, while the rest of the mostly market-rate village is being built out by Regis Homes of San Mateo.

Rents at the Terrace are 30% to 50% of the area median income (currently at $84,000 for a family of four) and start at $429 for a one-bedroom unit, $510 for a two-bedroom and $587 for a three-bedroom.

BRIDGE was brought on board due to the city’s requirement that 15% of every market-rate development be affordable, according to the city’s Department of Housing and Redevelopment.

The city of Fremont also joined Wells Fargo Bank, the state Department of Housing and Community Development and the Housing Authority of the County of Alameda as financiers of the $31.8 million Terrace project.

Galante says BRIDGE’s sister company, BUILD (BRIDGE Urban Infill Land Development), in partnership with Sares Regis Group of Northern California, has also invested substantial equity in Regis Homes’ Park Lane development within Irvington Village. Sares Regis is a subsidiary of Regis Homes.

BUILD, backed by the pension fund CalPERS, is also investing in the Central Station project in Oakland, a conversion of a 19-acre railroad property into a mixed-income community. Within this development, BRIDGE Housing is building the 99-unit Ironhorse apartment building along with architect David Baker & Partners of San Francisco and general contractor JH Fitzmaurice of Oakland.

Affordable housing in San Francisco has always been a priority and Galante says BRIDGE’s $62 million Mission Walk project will contribute 131 condos and townhouses for low- to moderate-income families. The two five-story residential buildings at 330 and 335 Berry St. in Mission Bay broke ground in October and will feature an on-grade parking garage and landscaped podium.

It will also be one of BRIDGE’s first LEED green buildings, a requirement of the city for all new-builds. Galante says her firm is aiming for a LEED certified rating.
The architect on the project is San Francisco-based Leddy Maytum Stacy.

The general contractor on Mission Walk, Danville-based James E. Roberts/Obaysahi, has also worked with BRIDGE from the very beginning 25 years ago. “We’ve always had great relations with BRIDGE,” says Scott Smith, president. “BRIDGE always puts experienced project managers on its projects, which really helps in the communications and budget maintenance areas.”

Another current project, the $27.5 million Cottonwood Creek Apartments, is a partnership with the Suisun City Redevelopment Agency and includes 94 apartments in four buildings.

Steve Grider, vice president at Segue Construction in Point Richmond, the project’s general contractor, says the project, which broke ground a year ago, is “on time and under budget.” He adds that BRIDGE has embraced green building aspects for this project as well.

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