Albany Village Graduate Student Apartments

Status

Project Phase:
Construction

Anticipated Completion:
Fall semester 2024

Details

Architect:
Ayers Saint Gross

Design Architect:
Kevin Daly Architects

General Contractor:
James E. Roberts-Obayashi Corporation

Development Partner:
American Campus Communities

Project Location:
Jackson St. and Monroe St., Albany, CA (map)

Project Inquiries:
capitalstrategies@berkeley.edu
(510) 495-5786

Visit our Environmental Review page to access applicable California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) notices and documents for UC Berkeley capital projects.

Construction Updates:

December 16, 2022

Albany Village construction activity from December 16, 2022, to early-January, will include:

  • Off-site sanitary sewer work on Jackson St. will begin on Monday 12/19 and will be complete by 12/22.
  • Building E footing rebar will begin 12/20 and footings will be poured by 12/28.
  • Site grading in the parking/drive aisle areas along the north and east sides of the project is ongoing. This activity won't be fully complete until after all of the pits and footings have been backfilled (the backfill material is stockpiled at the NE corner of the site adjacent to the Sprouts parking lot).
  • Backfill will begin at the elevator pits and top of footings in Building A and Building B on 12/21 and will complete by 1/6.
  • Vertical wall and column rebar/concrete is ongoing in Building A and Building B and will complete by 12/23.
  • Building C vertical wall and column rebar will begin 12/23 and pour out by 1/6.

Albany Village Graduate Student Apartments will be adjacent to UC Berkeley's existing University Village family housing community in Albany, California. The project will provide 761 single-occupancy bedrooms in apartment-style units for single UC Berkeley graduate students without children. Albany Village will triple the existing supply of university-owned housing for single graduate students.

Fully-furnished apartments will feature large windows that allow abundant natural light into bedrooms and living spaces. Each apartment will include a full kitchen with major appliances, as well as an in-unit washer and dryer.

Beyond their apartments, students will discover spaces for social interaction and well-being, including lounges and meeting rooms. A series of outdoor courtyards will provide more than 55,000 square feet of space for passive, social and active uses. Students can lounge and explore gardens with native plants and lush trees, host barbeque gatherings and outdoor movie nights, and take advantage of recreational spaces on new multi-use lawns and terraces.

The apartments will be well-served by public transportation. A new transit plaza will be added along Monroe Street, directly in front of the apartments. There, students will be able to easily catch a direct ride to campus on AC Transit.

This project will realize the third phase of the 2004 University Village Master Plan, which called for developing student housing on this 3.8-acre site of university-owned land. Previously implemented phases of the master plan redeveloped the existing University Village family housing, built a new senior living facility, and constructed community-serving retail buildings, including a Sprouts grocery store, along San Pablo Avenue.

The site for the Albany Village Graduate Student Apartments is currently overflow parking for University Village and contains small structures used for storage by campus units. A small community recreation building on the site will be removed as part of this project.

Construction of the apartments will not alter the borders of the Gill Tract Community Farm or the Rausser College of Natural Resources' growing fields, which are to the north, on the opposite side of Village Creek.

Construction began in September 2022. The apartments are anticipated to open for the fall semester 2024.