99-Unit Affordable Housing Community Opens in Oakland
Ironhorse at Central Station, a development by BRIDGE Housing Corp., is now open.
Oakland, Calif.–Ironhorse at Central Station, a development by BRIDGE Housing Corp., is now open. The 99-unit apartment community features a mix of one-, two-, and three-bedroom homes affordable to individuals and families with annual incomes ranging from $18,000 to $50,000. Twenty of the apartments are being made affordable to those with the lowest incomes, through rent subsidies administered by the Oakland Housing Authority.
Ironhorse features numerous sustainable or green building and landscaping measures, including vegetated roofs, solar photovoltaics and bioswales that naturally filter rainwater. Ironhorse, BRIDGE’s first property to participate in the Bay Friendly landscaping program, received a GreenPoint Rating of 146 points (nearly three times the score needed to qualify for the certification program).
“We are committed to creating energy- and resource-efficient homes that are cost-effective, good for the environment and healthier places to live,” says Cynthia A. Parker, president and CEO of BRIDGE Housing. “Ironhorse demonstrates that it’s possible to incorporate significant green measures into affordable multifamily homes.”
The community stands at the center of a reintegration of approximately 29 acres of abandoned former industrial land into the surrounding residential neighborhood. It forms part of Central Station, a new master-planned undertaking by several developers including BUILD, an affiliate of BRIDGE. Altogether more than 1,200 new homes will be constructed, along with new neighborhood-serving retail and the anticipated restoration of the historic 16th Street Station.
Financing for Ironhorse was provided by the Redevelopment Agency of the City of Oakland, California Department of Housing & Community Development, Oakland Housing Authority, Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco, Union Bank of California NA, US Bancorp Community Development Corporation and Wachovia Mortgage, FSB. The architect is David Baker + Partners and the general contractor is J.H. Fitzmaurice, Inc.
