Prefab Construction Stacks up for Affordable Housing in Bay Area
“Do you ever cease to be amazed by how beautiful this looks?” Adhi Nagraj asked as he watched a tower crane guide a module through the air at the construction site of Marea Alta, an affordable housing project across the street from the San Leandro BART station.
Nagraj, the project’s director of development, estimated that the modular construction process being used by contractor Cannon Constructors North has saved the project 10 to 15 percent of its $58 million construction costs.
Marea Alta is being built on top of a surface parking lot next to the BART station — and the developer is teaming up with the transit agency on the project.
The ability to construct modules as the site is being excavated has enabled developers to build as they demolish. All 312 modules are being produced by Zeta Design+Build, at its facility near Sacramento. Zeta has also worked on Oakland-based Holliday Development’s project at 5880 Third St. in San Francisco. The modules are then transported to the site and stitched together like Lego blocks to ensure adequate seismic strength and waterproofing.
“It created a lot of efficiency in terms of time that we could basically do two things at once in a way that we weren’t able to do in traditional construction,” Nagraj said.
A one-bedroom unit is composed of two modules, and “inside the units, they have stoves and cabinets and everything so you can literally walk into it and it feels like a home,” said Nagraj.
When complete, Marea Alta will likely will be the largest modular affordable housing project in California. Equity Residential’s 444 completed units at Domain Apartments in San Jose used a similar modular process.
The Nautilus Group is planning to use the method for 230 units in Oakland’s Temescal neighborhood. Nautilus’ sister company, NEMO Building Systems, “is cranking out modular housing units” and is under construction on its Garden Village project in Berkeley, according to its website.
Marea Alta
Address: 1400 San Leandro Blvd., San Leandro
Description: 115 affordable apartments for families earning 30 to 55 percent of the area median income ($26,600 to $50,600 for a family of four)
Amenities: A daycare center and playground, landscaped courtyard with community garden beds, on-site laundry and wellness and nutrition classes
Developer: BRIDGE Housing Corp.
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