More funding for 1342 Berkeley development in Santa Monica

A letter issued this month by the City of Santa Monica announces a construction loan for a proposed affordable housing development which will serve transition-age youth and low-income families.

East elevation for Berkeley StationBrooks + Scarpa

The $9.7-million funding commitment, which includes an existing acquisition and predevelopment loan of $467,735, will go towards the construction of an approved project from Community Corp. of Santa Monica at 1342 Berkeley Street. Plans call for the construction of a four-story building featuring 13 one-bedroom apartments. Five of those units are to be set aside for transition aged youth (between the ages of 18 and 24) earning up to 50 percent of the area median income level (AMI), with the remaining eight apartments reserved for families earning up to 30 percent of AMI.

Brooks + Scarpa is designing the project, dubbed Berkeley Station, which serves as a test case for the firm's NEST Toolkit. The toolkit has been described as a flexible "kit of parts" that can be used for affordable housing developments across the Los Angeles area

The new 11,000-square-foot building would be composed of prefabricated modular units and clad in saturated blue cement panels, arranged to provide upper-level outdoor space for residents, while also leaving space for a community garden at street level. No on-site parking is proposed.

South alley elevation for Berkeley StationBrooks + Scarpa

The new construction loan follows less than a year after the City of Santa Monica agreed to commit $5.7 million in affordable housing trust fund money to the Berkeley Station development.

Berkeley Station will rise just north of Santa Monica Boulevard’s intersections with Yale and Stanford Streets, where three market-rate apartment buildings are either planned, under construction, or recently-completed.

Community Corp. and Brooks Scarpa are also working on Brunson Terrace, a larger 48-unit affordable housing complex now wrapping up work in the Pico neighborhood.

1342 Berkeley StreetGoogle Maps.