Construction Underway For 84 Unit Berkeley Apartment Project

BERKELEY, CA — Construction is underway on a new 84-unit apartment project at 2035 Blake Street in Berkeley. It will include two live-work units, approximately 750 square feet of ground-floor retail, 68 parking spaces in a basement-level garage and 67 bike parking spaces. Two of the vehicle spaces will be dedicated car-share spaces, and there will be additional electric vehicle (EV) ready parking stalls provided.

It's within walking distance of the BART station and Berkeley Bowl.

A groundbreaking ceremony for the project was held last Thursday. Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin and local officials joined executives of Gemdale, Blake|Griggs and contractor Anton Building Company in turning ceremonial shovels.

Jason Zhu, Chairman of Gemdale USA, said, “This project benefits from its superior location. It is a short walk to Berkeley BART and the University of California, Berkeley campus. The large student population, increasing enrollment, and lack of on-campus housing provides a built-in demand generator. The Blake Street apartments represent Gemdale’s fourth project in the Bay Area, a strategically very important, high growth market for Gemdale.” The company is a subsidiary of Gemdale Corporation, listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Michael Krupa, President of Gemdale USA added, “Supply constrained yet high growth Downtown Berkeley is a highly walkable and livable setting ideal for urban professionals, with a significant number of museums, art galleries, theatres, restaurants and grocery stores. Moreover, there are more than 350 startups in Berkeley, making the city a leading center for new business and innovative technologies. It is also a short walk from the project to Berkeley Bowl, which is one of the most popular organic grocery stores in Berkeley.”

Brad Blake, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Danville-based Blake|Griggs Properties said, “We are excited to do our first development project in Berkeley with Gemdale and their Bay Area team.”His company has an $800 million of new development projects in the pipeline.

In addition to contractor Anton Building Company, other project participants include Devi Dutta Architecture, Rhoades Planning Group and Chris Ford Landscape Architecture.

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