City and state officials announced an agreement Thursday with developers of the former UC Berkeley Extension site in San Francisco to include more affordable housing - more than doubling the number of such dwellings for the 413-unit project at 55 Laguna St.
While 66 of the 328 rental apartments for families had been designated as affordable, the new agreement makes an 85-unit complex for seniors - most of whom are expected to be gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender - affordable as well. The units for seniors previously were to be rented at the market rate.
Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, Assemblyman Mark Leno, state Sen. Carole Migden, the mayor's Office of Housing and gay rights and housing activists pushed to increase the percentage of affordable dwellings in the project from 16 percent to 37 percent. On Thursday, they celebrated the agreement with the University of California and A.F. Evans, the development company hired for the project.
Mirkarimi said Thursday at a news conference on the steps of City Hall that he had previously viewed the UC system as "an inflexible juggernaut" but was pleased that "patience and smartness prevailed."
"This is a major milestone," he said. "We have made critical progress."
Planning for the development has been going on since UC Extension moved out in late 2003, citing budgetary concerns.
In addition to the apartments, the development is also due to include a 25,000-square-foot park where the asphalt parking lot now sits and a 10,600-square-foot community garden. Both are intended to be accessible to the public, as is a planned 12,000-square-foot community center.
The city's Planning Commission was expected late Thursday to approve the environmental impact report for the development, another important step before the entire plan goes to the Board of Supervisors for approval.
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