What is the history of building high-density housing in Rockridge? Has the neighborhood continually rejected high-density housing and prevented its construction? What is fact and what is fiction?
Currently, high density on College Avenue is 50 units per acre, which became standard about two years ago along with the new 55-foot height limit. Prior to the new definitions, high-density neighborhoods in Oakland were defined as ten units per acre or above, versus the typical suburban sprawl of four units per acre.
With the proliferation of ADUs in the neighborhood, Rockridge was considered high density, averaging 12-13 units per acre. Existing Rockridge residential development is generally much less dense than several major projects now proposed in the neighborhood, and typical Rockridge residential areas are now defined as the low end of the moderate-density range.
Proposals Don’t Always Become Projects
Over the past 20 years, a number of multi-unit projects have been proposed and submitted to the Planning Department, and a number of them were never built. Not because the neighbors or the Rockridge Community Planning Council (RCPC) took a position against them, but rather because one or more factors in the process failed.
As an example, already in January 2006, a development was proposed for the site of what is now The Logan, which did not open until early 2021. In fact, several different proposals by different developers were made over a number of years for the site before there was a plan that met all requirements to actually be built, including site plans benefiting Frog Park and the Temescal Greenbelt, setbacks and step-downs to benefit the immediate residential neighbors, approved density bonuses for low-income units and, not least of all, financing. It is important to note that submission to the Planning Department is only a first step.
The Proof is in the Pudding: High-Density Proposals Submitted and Built
Since 2008, RCPC, with the support of Rockridge residents, has approved or supported the creation of 576 units of high-density housing, both new and repurposed. RCPC has worked with residential neighbors to mitigate negative impacts created by increased shadowing, additional traffic, parking, garbage, and noise. Agreements and compromises were negotiated with developers.
There are only a few viable Opportunity Sites in Rockridge as identified in Oakland’s Housing Element. These locations offer high potential for new development (although such designation does not guarantee development) and would contribute to the much-needed affordable and moderate-rate housing. Because there are very few viable opportunity sites within the RCPC boundaries, most of these properties lie on its perimeter (DaVita Dialysis, CCA, DMV, The Ridge, Claremont/College Triangle).
The following high-density housing projects were submitted for approval to the City of Oakland Planning Department, and for review by RCPC. RCPC’s role has consistently been to improve projects for the benefit of the project’s adjacent neighbors by negotiating directly with the developers on their behalf. The financial reality is simple: if the project changes negotiated with the developers had not remained profitable, these projects would not have been built.
Benvenue Court: Corner of Benvenue and Alcatraz
6 Units, 2 stories with full basements, built 2011
Six two-story mini-lot homes with full basements. These are the first mini-lot homes built in Rockridge. One home has since had its basement converted into an ADU.
Idora Apartments: 5239 Claremont
33 units, 5 stories, built in 2017
The first approval for this project was negotiated in 2008 as a co-housing development. The final project was not built until after the relocation of the historic Kingfish Bar from its original site to its new home around the corner on Telegraph Avenue.
Merrill Gardens: 5238 Coronado
127 units, 4 & 5 stories, built in 2017 as senior living units
One parcel of this project, the corner lot at 5175 Broadway at Coronado had several proposals approved by the Planning Department beginning in January 2007, before the lot apparently changed hands and was folded into the Merrill Gardens Senior Living project.
AND…
The Baxter: 4901 Broadway
130 units, 4 & 5 stories, built in 2018
Both Merrill Gardens and The Baxter impacted neighbors on Coronado Avenue. In each case, the proposed project straddled two different City Planning Zones, each with differing height limits. RCPC supported the efforts of the Coronado neighbors to ensure height limit enforcement in each zone, which resulted in the rear of the building, abutting the residential zone, being stepped down one story. Additional negotiated changes on the Merrill Gardens project produced better parking access and rerouted traffic onto 51st Street, away from the residential neighbors.
Clifton Hall: 5276 Broadway
41 senior units, managed by Satellite Affordable Housing Associates
21 family units, managed by the East Oakland Community Project
Built in 2002, repurposed in 2019
The former California College of the Arts (CCA) dormitory was converted to senior and supportive housing for formerly homeless families in 2019 under the state Project Homekey program. RCPC strongly supported this repurposing.
The Logan: 5110 Telegraph
204 units, 5 stories, built 2020
Nautilus Group, developers of this transit-oriented project, worked very creatively with RCPC to ensure that parking from the building would not impact the limited street parking abutting the residential zone. To ensure that tenants of the building could not obtain Residential Parking Permits (RPP), the developer recorded a restrictive deed covenant that runs with the land, excluding the building address from RPP use.
Seventeen of the residential units (or 15 percent) are affordable and offered at below-market rate (BMR). These BMR units are designated as "very-low-income," and made available exclusively to applicants earning less than 50 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI), as defined by HUD. (In Oakland, that's $59,200/year for a two-person household.)
5527 Vicente Way
14 units, 3 stories, under construction
Ground broken in January 2026 on 14 three-story townhomes. A density bonus was earned by designating one home for sale to a very-low income household. In 2025, that meant a two-person household earning no more than $63,950.
The graph below shows a total of 576 new housing units have been added to Rockridge over the last 20 years.
During this same time period, many local homes added ADUs and granny flats, which are not accounted for in this total.
High-Density Proposals in the Pipeline
How Dense Are the New Senior Housing Proposals?
Rockridge residential streets typically contain 10–15 housing units per acre. The new senior housing development proposals would concentrate substantially more housing on their individual sites—and are way too high for the surrounding neighborhood.
Proposed Housing Projects Compared with Current Neighborhood Density
- The 6230 Claremont Avenue project proposes 203 senior-living units on 1.06 acres, or about 191-192 units per acre—about 13 to 19 times the average density of Rockridge’s residential streets.
- The revised 5727 College Avenue/Trader Joe’s site proposal calls for ~372 units on approximately 1.5 acres—roughly 241-248 units per acre—about 16 to 24 times the typical density of Rockridge’s residential streets.
California College of the Arts Campus: 5212 Broadway
Emerald Fund Principal and President Marc Babsin made a presentation to RCPC at its February 2024 board meeting where he made it clear that construction would be unlikely to happen for another two to three years until the project would become financially viable due to adverse market forces, including high interest rates, high construction costs, and Oakland's glut of market-rate housing—including 10,000 market-rate units built since 2019. Babsin indicated that other developers had been similarly postponing projects for several years until they can financially pencil out.
By then, however, the shifting economics delayed the project even further due to rising cost of construction, interest rates, and financing costs, coupled with weaker market conditions—making the approved project infeasible to build.
This project has been in process for about seven years. The commentary period for the Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) has closed, but the Final EIR is not yet available. The proposal is for 448 units, consisting of 61 percent studios and one-bedroom units, and 31 percent two-bedroom and loft/townhouse units. Forty-five units are designated as affordable units at 120 percent of AMI, which for a two-person household in Rockridge is $142,000/year. This proposal is supported by RCPC.
The development features a 1.5-acre public green space in conjunction with the preservation of historic Macky Hall. While the developers claim that the campus had been open to the public for the first time, in fact, the campus had been open and used by Rockridge residents for about 100 years until Emerald Fund fenced it in. Many generations of students have walked through the CCAC/CCA campus going to and from Oakland Tech.
In January 2026, CCA announced an agreement with Vanderbilt University under which Vanderbilt would take ownership of the Oakland campus as part of the institutions’ broader agreement. The campus had been open to the public for use by Rockridge residents for about 100 years (until Emerald Fund fenced it in) and the community hopes to see the area become an integral part of the community once again.
