United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
EPA Region 9 Brownfields Program Success Stories
Tassafaronga Apartments Oakland, CA
Revitalized Neighborhood Brings Affordable Housing
Project Description
Property Address:
Property Size:
Former Use:
93 084th Avenue
Oakland, CA 94621
7.5 acres
Public housing, pasta factory,
truck repair, and salvage yard
Contaminants Found: Lead, Petroleum Hydrocarbons,
Dieldrin, Arsenic, polycyclic
aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)
Affordable rental housing
complex
Tassafaronga Partners, L.P and
Tassafaronga Partners II, L.P.
Current Use:
Current Owner:
Project Partners
Oakland Housing Authority
David Baker + Partners Architects
Cahill Contractors, Inc.
Fugro West, Inc.
Equity Community Builders
Goldfarb and Lipman Law Firm
CSG Advisors, Inc.
U.S. EPA
Property History
The 7.5-acre site was initially two different properties.
The southern property was originally an 87-unit
public housing development built by the government
in 1945 and the northern property was a two-story,
18,000-square foot Alita Brand Macaroni Facility, a
pasta factory built in 1947. The housing development
was the Tassafaronga Temporary War Housing for
war workers who worked at the shipyards along the
Oakland Inner Harbor Channel. In 1955, the Oakland
Housing Authority (OHA) acquired the housing
parcels and continued to operate the war worker
housing until 1964 when the original structures were
demolished. Furthermore, in 1949 the northern half
The Tassaforanga Apartments- Village Square
Highlights
Provides a diverse range of housing from very low-
income to moderate-income to working households
by creatively leveraging funding from public-agency
resources
This strategic land acquisition and its urban design
repaired the deteriorated street grid and improved
neighborhood access
The first Leadership in Energy & Environmental
Design (LEED) for Neighborhood Development (ND)
Gold Certified Plan in California, and on-track for
LEED for Homes Platinum certification
of the pasta factory parcel was leased to an auto
repair business. In 1975 the northern portion of the lot
operated as an auto repair shop and trucking service
with a gasoline station, and the previous owner
removed the tanks prior to the sale of the property.
Environmental assessments performed during the
mid-2000s funded by the California Environmental
Protection Agency's Department of Toxic Substances
Control (DTSC) determined that there was some
residual soil contamination from the tank removal
and pesticide contamination within the soil near the
housing complex, spawning the OHA to apply for an
EPA Brownfields Cleanup grant.
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Drivers for Redevelopment
The site is located within the Coliseum Redevelopment
Area in Oakland, Californiait covers a wide area in
East Oakland and includes residential, retail, sports/
entertainment, and industrial land as well as an
airport facility. The former Tassafaronga war worker
public housing complex was the last large severely
distressed development in OHA's inventory. With new
infrastructure growing in the surrounding area, OHA
decided to redevelop the site into a new mixed income,
family-oriented housing project with affordable rental
and for-sale units. With nearby new schools and a
public library, this offered the opportunity to stabilize
the neighborhood and increase its livability and
sense of community. The creation of more affordable
housing units than existed previously also is a benefit
to the community; it is contributing to and sustaining a
neighborhood revitalization already underway.
Project Results
Site cleanup, performed in conjunction with the
DTSC Voluntary Cleanup Program, was completed
in October 2008 with the removal of the petroleum
and pesticide contaminated soils with funds from the
EPA Brownfields Cleanup grant. Construction of the
Tassafaronga Village began shortly thereafter and was
completed in May 2010. The new housing complex is
a green neighborhood of 157 units, designed to bring
a diversity of affordable housing to an under-served
area of Oakland; currently over 500 residents live
there. The complex includes affordable family rental
apartments and affordable rental townhouses with an
onsite medical clinic. For-sale family townhomes are
going up in cooperation with Habitat for Humanity
East Bay. Many of the original tenants have been
welcomed back to the new development, which
opened in mid-2010. The revitalization project created
a residential environment that is attractive, pedestrian-
friendly, environmentally healthy, and safe. This
sustainable project achieved the first LEED ND Gold
Certified Plan in California.
Funding Information
$200,000 U.S. EPA Brownfields Cleanup grant
$30,000,000 National Equity Fund, Inc. Equity
$9,490,000 Citibank Loan
$500,000 Housing Opportunities for Persons with
AIDS Loan
$12,725,055 State of California Multifamily Housing
Program Loan
$6,119,552 State of California Infill Infrastructure
Grant
$1,500,000 CalHFA HELP Loan
$12,765,577 Oakland Housing Authority
$3,000,000 City of Oakland Redevelopment Agency
$388,241 Tax Credit Assistance Program
$200,000 Federal Home Loan Bank AHP Subsidy
Project Timeline
2005 Predevelopment planning begins and OHA
purchases the pasta factory parcel
2006 Awarded EPA Brownfield Cleanup grant
2007 Obtain approval to demolish public housing
1/2008 Begin to relocate existing residents
6/2008 Demolish existing buildings
9/2008 Remediate hazardous soils
10/2008 Start construction of new housing project
2010 Construction complete and new affordable
rental housing 100% occupied
For additional information, please contact:
Bridget Galka Oakland Housing Authority (510) 587-2142
bgalka@oakha.org
Brownfields Region 9 Success Story
Tassafaronga Apartments, Oakland, CA
April 2011
www.epa.gov/brownfields
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