An apartment for rent on Spruce Street. Photo by Melati Citrawireja This is the second in a Berkeleyside series on housing. Read our first story on short term rentals. The heated economy has pushed Berkeley rental rates significantly higher this past year, a jump of anywhere from 10% to 30.9%, depending on which study you look […]
Berkeley Central
Posted inBusiness, Housing & Development
Is the tech boom putting pressure on Berkeley rents?
Rents have been going up at 1450 Fourth St., a complex of live-work spaces and some tenants believe the tech boom is putting pressure on prices. Photo: Natalie Orenstein Rents have been going up at 1450 Fourth St., a complex of live-work spaces and some tenants believe the tech boom is putting pressure on prices. Photo: Natalie […]
Posted inHousing & Development
‘Explosive’ downtown Berkeley housing boom under way
More than 1,400 units are in the works for downtown. Image: Downtown Berkeley Association More than 1,400 housing units are currently in development in downtown Berkeley, with demolition on one of the first in the pipeline scheduled to begin this week. There are eight projects, including a hotel, planned in the downtown core, with two […]
Posted inHousing & Development, Schools
1,000 new apartments planned for downtown Berkeley
Natasha Moses, a property manager for Berkeley Central at 2055 Center Street, shows a visitor the main living area of one of the penthouse apartments, which rent for $6,300 a month. Photo: Frances Dinkelspiel The view from the L-shaped deck off the penthouse apartment at 2055 Center St. is spectacular. One side looks west toward […]
Posted inBusiness
Arpeggio Building sold, to open in September
The Arpeggio Building at 2055 Center Street has been bought by CityView. Photo: Frances Dinkelspiel The Arpeggio Building at 2055 Center Street, which was once envisioned as gleaming tower of pricy condos, has been sold to a real estate group that plans to open it as apartments in late September. CityView, a real estate fund […]
Posted inBusiness, City
Newly cleaned up downtown hopes to attract more retail
New landscaping is part of an ongoing major clean-up campaign in downtown Berkeley. Photo: Nancy Rubin On Tuesday, downtown Berkeley was born anew. Billed as a fresh start, the heart of the city was relaunched to a capacity crowd in the ballroom of the Hotel Shattuck Plaza on Allston Way. For the past three months, […]
Posted inCity
Center Street downtown reopens to 2-ways after 3 years
Clear and free: traffic is now running both ways on Center Street between Shattuck and Milvia. Photo: Tracey Taylor Update, 6.10 pm: Make that seven years! The City of Berkeley checked again on the dates and reports in to us that Center Street was closed to one-way traffic when Berkeley City College was being constructed, in […]
Posted inHousing & Development
Berkeley’s newest ‘skyscraper’ reveals itself
Eric Mai works in the Great Western building on Shattuck Avenue downtown and sent in this photograph of the “reveal” of the new Arpeggio building at 2055 Center Street. He writes: “I have been enjoying watching the ugly black construction tarp and scaffolding on the south side of the Arpeggio building come down yesterday and […]
Posted inCity
City Council candidates respond to your questions
Berkeley Old City Hall. Photo: Wikimedia Commons Berkeleyside recently sent all the candidates for the City Council a set of questions, partly based on the suggestions our readers provided. Candidates are running in Districts 1, 4, 7 and 8. Of the 13 active candidates in the four districts, we received responses from six: Linda Maio in […]
Posted inBusiness, City, Housing & Development
Measure R: Future direction of Berkeley’s downtown?
There’s no issue more contentious on the November 2 ballot than Measure R, the advisory measure that establishes a new downtown plan. Measure R, placed on the ballot by the City Council after Berkeley residents collected enough signatures to force a previous downtown plan to a vote, sets new guidelines on growth and development in […]
