Oh, and look what I found -
the first renderings of first phase of Walnut Capital's new Oakland development - the 426-unit apartment building, with a 438 space garage, a 33,000 square-foot grocery store, and two additional retail spaces with a total of 8,000 square feet on a plaza raised up from Zulema Street.
The design is tailor made to fit under all of the new zoning requirements which have been negotiated (green buffer on the Coltart side, fits the new height requirements, 10% affordable units, etc.). Compared to the existing building, it does go further back on Halket, but there's a "residential plaza" with a small amount of surface parking, along with a single story lobby, which means there is something of a density transition rather than an abrupt rise.
I do have to say while the design looks sharp from Zulema and Boulevard of the Allies, it's a bit uglier from other directions. The view coming down Halket is frankly awful, though of course that block of Halket is slated to eventually be cleared for another apartment building. The view from Coltart is as good as it could be given it's the back side of the building and the garage is visible, but I'm sure the NIMBYS will have a cow.