BERKELEY | 2029 University Avenue | 256 FT | 23 FLOORS

[38 Geary]

The specs for 2029 University Ave:
- 23 floors, 230+ ft
- 240 units
- 36 of the units will be affordable
- Parking for 29 cars

The site:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/MKaZ6mpqqJtYBTZQ7

Preliminary Application For 23-Story Tower in Downtown Berkeley



By: Andrew Nelson 5:30 am on December 12, 2024

Preliminary permits have been filed for yet another project that could reshape the Downtown Berkeley skyline. Earlier this week, plans surfaced for a 23-story apartment tower at 2029 University Avenue, making it the fifth or sixth tallest project in the city’s pipeline. Walnut Creek-based Laconia Development is the project developer.

...

Demolition will be required for an existing two-story commercial structure. The square property is located on a busy block bound by Berkeley Way, Milvia Street, Shattuck Avenue, and University Avenue. On the block, the city has seen two major projects open up in the last few years at 2012 Berkeley Way and 2067 University Avenue. At the corner of University and Shattuck, plans are moving for what could become the tallest building in the city, developed by NX Ventures.

If built today, the proposal would be the tallest in the city, which is currently the 186-foot tall Chase Building. Within the city’s pipeline, 2029 University Avenue is expected to be the fifth or sixth tallest project in the pipeline, surpassed by 1998 Shattuck Avenue, 2128 Oxford Street, 2190 Shattuck Avenue, 2200 Bancroft Way, and potentially 2115 Kittredge Street. The overall height for the latter project has yet to be confirmed, but with plans for 23 floors, the development will likely match or exceed the height of 2029 University Avenue.

https://sfyimby.com/2024/12/preliminary-application-for-23-story-tower-in-downtown-berkeley.html

[38 Geary]

The updated specs for 2029 University Ave:
- 23 floors, 256 ft
- Either residential (240 units comprised of 140 studios, 60 1BR, 40 2BR) with 36 affordable units or student housing (160 units comprised of 60 studios, 20 1BR, 20 3BR, 60 4BR) with 24 affordable units
- Parking for 29 cars and 186 bicycles

The site:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/MKaZ6mpqqJtYBTZQ7

Renderings Revealed For 23-Story Tower at 2029 University Avenue, Berkeley



By: Andrew Nelson 5:30 am on January 1, 2025

New renderings have been published alongside zoning permits for a 23-story tower at 2029 University Avenue in Downtown Berkeley, Alameda County. Project developer Laconia Development has submitted two concurrent plans for residential or student housing within the identically-sized high rise. Either way, the team is pursuing one of the tallest projects in the city’s pipeline.

...

The recently-renamed Berkeley firm Stackhouse De La Pena Trachtenberg Architects, or SDT Architects, is responsible for the design. Both tower plans show a slight variety from the architecture studio’s wheelhouse, clad with metal panels and thin brick. In fact, you’d be excused for not immediately noticing the difference between either project, and neither appears to be particularly attractive.

...

Demolition will be required for the existing two-story commercial structure. The 0.28-acre property is located along University Avenue between Shattuck Avenue and Milvia Street. The estimated cost and timeline for construction have yet to be shared.

https://sfyimby.com/2025/01/renderings-r...-at-2029-university-avenue-berkeley.html

[38 Geary]

And the renderings:







https://sfyimby.com/2025/01/renderings-r...-at-2029-university-avenue-berkeley.html

[38 Geary]

Meeting Tomorrow For 23-Story Tower at 2029 University Avenue, Downtown Berkeley
By: Andrew Nelson 5:30 am on October 15, 2025

The Berkeley Design Review Committee is scheduled to review plans for a potential 23-story tower at 2029 University Avenue in Downtown Berkeley, Alameda County. The project developer, Laconia Development, has filed two similarly-sized variants for multi-family or student housing. Stackhouse De La Pẽna Trachtenberg Architects is responsible for the design, with Jett overseeing the landscape architecture. Both iterations feature a similar design, with iterations of vertical articulation alongside a mix of brick veneer and metal panels.

...

Rhoades Planning Group is assisting the project as the land use consultant. Both projects utilize Assembly Bill 1287 to achieve a 100% bonus from the State Density Bonus program, with waivers and up to four concessions requested. Residential amenities will be concentrated around the rooftop level, with the level split between a rooftop deck, a co-working lounge, and a fitness center. The application is currently the sixth-tallest application within the city’s busy pipeline, poised to be 56 feet taller than plans for 2425 Durant Avenue, and just 12 feet shorter than 2190 Shattuck Avenue. The current tallest plan within the pipeline is for a 317-foot-tall apartment complex at 1998 Shattuck Avenue filed by NX Ventures.

https://sfyimby.com/2025/10/meeting-tomo...university-avenue-downtown-berkeley.html

[Urbannizer]

Berkeley City Council approves housing developments that sidestep labor standards

The Berkeley City Council reluctantly signed off Monday night on two proposed high-rise developments that use a state housing law to sidestep local labor standards.

Two labor groups had called for Berkeley leaders to approve the projects but reject their developers’ attempts to use California’s “density bonus” law to dodge a union-backed ordinance Berkeley adopted in 2023 mandating that builders of large projects provide health care coverage for workers and apprenticeship programs. The state law requires cities to give builders exemptions from certain local regulations if their projects include affordable housing.

Developers Collab Home and Laconia Development say abiding by the ordinance would cost millions of dollars and mean they might never actually build the projects, a 20-story complex on Durant Avenue in the Southside neighborhood and a 23-story building on University Avenue in downtown Berkeley. Attorneys for the developers told the City Council that the state law grants them broad authority to bypass Berkeley’s mandates, and the city doesn’t have the power to block their use of it.

The debate Monday night centered on a 169-unit project at 2425 Durant Ave. from Berkeley-based Collab Home, and a project at 2029 University Ave. from Laconia, a Walnut Creek firm that proposed two versions of the project. One would include 240 units and have more studio and one-bedroom apartments; the other, with larger apartments, would have 160 total units.

Each project was approved by Berkeley’s Zoning Adjustments Board, but those decisions were appealed by the Building and Construction Trades Council of Alameda County and the Northern California Carpenters Regional Council. The groups argued Laconia and Collab Home were abusing the density bonus law, which they said was meant to apply to physical limitations on development, not labor standards.