Grubb Properties is making good on plans to grow its Bay Area portfolio.
Walnut Creek-based Laconia Development, which previously had the site under contract, successfully entitled the 161-unit project at the end of 2021. Laconia, seeking to capitalize on changes to state density bonus law, which allows developers to trade on-site affordable units for more density than would otherwise be allowed by local zoning codes,at the end of last year.
Laconia CEO Paul Menzies told me in December his firm wanted to break ground on the Blake Street site by the end of 2023. The project, which will encompass a mix of studios and one- and two- bedroom apartments, will share the lot with a pair of 19th century Victorian homes that Laconia planned to rehabilitate, per Menzies. He said Laconia believed the process of securing updated entitlements for the site would be simpler than starting from scratch.