Huge project planned near BART station

Construction plan could double the number of homes in the vicinity

The Planning Commission today will consider approving a developer’s proposal to build almost 1,000 apartments and condominiums and 31,000 square feet of commercial space near the Union City BART station.

If approved by the commission and later the City Council, the development effectively would double the total number of housing units either built or planned in the area immediately east of the BART station, part of what’s known as the Station District.

City officials have spent roughly two decades trying to foster high-density housing and commercial spaces in the area, which largely used to be occupied by industries whose operations required toxic cleanups after they left.

Integral Communities wants to build up to 974 apartments, condominiums and town homestyle condominiums as well as 30,800 square feet of ground floor commercial space on a 26.5-acre site bounded by Decoto Road to the north, Seventh Street to the east, Bradford Way to the south and Union Pacific Railroad lines to the west. According to its plan, 146 of the units would be below-marketrate apartments.

The project site would include 33 residential buildings three to five stories tall and a community building.

Carmela Campbell, the city’s economic and community development manager, said Union City has worked with the developer to get some community benefits out of the project.

“Just the additional affordable housing in itself where the city isn’t subsidizing it is very important for our residents,” Campbell said.

Although a city ordinance requires developers to offer at least 15% of their total housing units at below market rate, it gives them the option of paying in-lieu fees instead that eventually will be spent on affordable housing projects. In an earlier study session, however, the council pushed the developer to build the units outright.

Campbell said the project also will feature three commu

nity parks and retail options such as a grocery store for its residents and those of the nearby Decoto district.

In addition, the project will include a tot lot, an outdoor amphitheater and urban plazas, according to city reports.

If the project ultimately is approved by the City Council later this year, buildings on the site could start going down by the end of this year or early 2022,

according to Leslie Carmichael, a planner assigned to the project.

The development would be phased in over about 41/2 years.

To the west of that project site, next to the BART station, are 157 affordable apartments known as Station Center and managed by MidPen Housing, and 243 market-rate apartments known as Union Flats and run by Windflower Properties.

Woodstock Development, a major office space developer based in Burlingame, proposed in 2017 to

build 1.2 million square feet of Class A office and technology center space in the area, but the project has not advanced yet. City officials said Tuesday development rights for the office are good through the end of 2022.

City officials said such a development would help encourage more people to take BART and other public transit to work in Union City from around the Bay Area, especially the TriValley.

All of those projects could be connected to the BART station by a pedestrian pathway that would cross the Union Pacific Railroad tracks to the east of the station. Though the eastern side of the BART station was upgraded and unveiled in 2017, the crossing has stalled because of delays in getting agreements between the city and the railroad company, Campbell said.

Another crossing near Integral’s project could connect the Station East area to the main Station District area in the future as well, Campbell said.