Word this morning that the Claremont Hotel & Spa, an historic resort in the East Bay hills, could get as many a 45 condos in a new development. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Signature Development Group and hotel owners are in negotiations with the city of Oakland, hoping to build the condos on the hotel grounds. (The hotel straddles the border of Berkeley and Oakland.)
According to the report, a terraced parking lot outside the hotel entrance would make way for the units that are being pitched as homes for empty nesters looking to downsize. SDG's Michael Ghielmetti told the Chronicle: "It's an opportunity for new housing, which is desperately needed in the Bay Area." He added that empty nesters relocating to the condos would "free up" homes for families.
The plans are in the early stages, but the developers frame the response as "overwhelmingly positive." However, some neighbors voiced concerns to Chronicle reporters about preserving the architecture of the 1915 hotel and traffic clogging the surrounding streets.
According to the report architecture firm Levy Design Partners has been tapped to design the units and an underground parking garage.
A meeting on the topic will be on Thursday at 7 p.m. in the hotel. If the project were approved, construction could begin in 2018.
- Condos for Boomers proposed at landmark Claremont [San Francisco Chronicle]