NDC – Brookfield Partnership Selected to Advance North Concord BART TOD

Jan 10, 2019 | Housing, TOD

BART Selects Brookfield Residential / Novin Development Corporation to Advance Transit-Oriented Development at the North Concord/Martinez BART Station Following a 2 1/2-month competitive selection process, BART Board awarded exclusive negotiating rights to Brookfield Residential / Novin Development Corporation for an initial period of 24 months, with a possible 24 month extension. The agenda and board packet with the recommendation are now available...

Funding Affordable Housing Near Transit in the Bay Area Region

Jan 3, 2019 | Housing, TOD

Based on the Bay Area’s progress in meeting the Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) goals for 2007-2014, it is apparent that the region faces a challenge in producing sufficient very low income (VLI), low income (LI) and moderate income (MODI) housing units to meet demand. While the housing production goals were largely met for market-rate units (above moderate income) across the Bay Area, only 28 percent of the units allocated for lower income households were issued permits from 2007-2014. Lack of funding, limited development sites zoned for housing, and inadequate public support are some of the major barriers to developing affordable units. In response to the region’s housing affordability crisis, two of the region’s major transit agencies – BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) and VTA (Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority) – have recently established ambitious targets for building lower income housing on their transit lands. Achieving the transit agencies’ objectives will require raising additional local funding, in addition to coordinating closely with local jurisdictions to enable higher-density housing on transit properties… Read the Full Report Here...

Taking the Space Out of Parking – an Innovative Parking Solution

Sep 18, 2018 | Parking

Imagine spending a day on the town, shopping, dining, or just people watching. Now, think of the reality. How often have you: Driven around downtown looking for a parking space? Circled the parking lot looking for the mysterious 27 remaining parking places? Fumed over the monster truck purposely taking up four parking spots? Wanted to ram into the convertible centered on the line between two spaces? The Bay Area is in the midst of a parking crisis. The increased shopping and housing construction make Walnut Creek’s crisis especially obvious. Instead of building more parking structures, it is time to start building parking solutions. A truly automated parking system is much more than a conventional garage with no attendants and only electronic pay stations. These systems automatically park and retrieve your car for you. Automation also allows for space optimization by eliminating vehicle lanes in the primary parking area, allowing for more parked vehicles in less space. The Future of Parking is Now Like autonomous vehicles, automated parking systems are no longer futuristic. They are successfully in use in other countries like and are working their way throughout the US. For example, in Japan there are over two-million automated spaces are in use. You can find contemporary examples in San Francisco, Emeryville, and Oakland. These systems not only save space, they do not require new construction for installation. That means that an existing parking structure converted into an automated system could hold as many as two to three times more vehicles. Additionally, the upgraded facility would reduce thefts and damage because of the closed nature of the system. Automated systems...