NX Ventures Advances Plan for Apartment Building in Berkeley

NX Ventures has moved forward with plans to build a 28-story apartment building in Downtown Berkeley, the tallest in town.

The locally based developer had its 317-foot-tall tower reviewed by a city design committee this month for 1950-1998 Shattuck Avenue, a block from the UC Berkeley campus, SFYimby and Urbanize San Francisco reported.

NX Ventures Advances Plan for Apartment Building in Berkeley — Rendering of plans for 1950-1998 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley (Trachtenberg Architects)

The 411,300-square-foot highrise would replace five commercial buildings, including a corner McDonald’s at Shattuck and University avenues.

Plans call for 599 apartments, including 489 studios and 110 two-bedroom units, above 16,100 square feet of shops and restaurants and a parking garage for 154 cars and 284 bicycles.

The notched building would include a fitness center, conference room, club rooms and lounges on the second and 14th floors. The rooftop terrace would include a restaurant, with panoramic views from the Golden Gate to the 307-foot-tall Campanile bell tower on the Berkeley campus.

The tallest building in Berkeley is the 54-year-old Chase Building, at 186 feet, followed by the 180-foot Anchor House, a UC-developed dormitory that opened last year.

NX would employ Senate Bill 330 and a state density bonus to fast-track a larger building than local zoning rules allow.

The tower, designed by locally based SDTarch, formerly Trachtenberg Architects, would have off-white metal cladding, floor-to-ceiling vertical windows, painted metal trim and wood soffits.

The project adds to thousands of apartments planned for Berkeley, which has an acute student housing shortage. Downtown Berkeley is growing taller faster than any other Bay Area city hub, with at least six buildings between 16 and 28 stories proposed in its central core.

NX Ventures has proposed more than a half-dozen apartment projects in the East Bay city, including a 14-story, 105-unit building at 2109 Milvia Street and a 166-unit complex at 3000 Shattuck Avenue.

The developer is also working to build a 207-unit, eight-story complex at 1598 University Avenue; a 16-story, 146-unit building at 2420 Shattuck Avenue; and a 221-unit project with room for shops and restaurants at 2920 Shattuck Avenue.

— Dana Bartholomew