BERKELEY — After months of speculation, UC Berkeley confirmed it will tear down a 111-year-old rent-controlled apartment building to make way for a larger new student housing project.
But the university maintains that the current nine tenants won’t have to vacate 1921 Walnut St. during the pandemic, and their relocation packages “could easily reach six figures.” Some tenants, however, say they’re “devastated” and plan to fight back.
“The university is ready and able to be flexible and accommodating, We can and will balance the needs of thousands of students who require housing, and the needs of these nine tenants,” said Dan Mogulof, UC Berkeley’s assistant vice chancellor of communications and public affairs, in an email.
Tenants were sent a letter Tuesday night by UC Berkeley, informing them of the decision to include 1921 Walnut St. in its plans. The site is part of the larger “Anchor House Project,” formerly known as the “Gateway Student Housing Project,” which could add 760 plus apartment-style student housing beds to the campus. Construction is expected to begin at the end of this year, with an estimated opening in 2024.
“While we need to move as quickly as possible to address a severe student housing crisis that is impacting the city and campus communities, we are also aware of how challenging relocation can be, particularly during these difficult times,” the letter read.
Tenants would not be required to move during the city’s shelter-in-place order because of the coronavirus pandemic, and the earliest they would be sent 90-day eviction notices is June 1. Relocation packages for tenants will include assistance finding comparable housing, moving expenses and rental assistance.
“The inclusion of the 1921 Walnut site will enable the university to provide urgently needed housing for an additional 7,500 students over the course of the building’s anticipated, 100-year lifetime,” Mogulof said.
There are eight units in the apartment building and as of October, there were an estimated dozen tenants, some of whom have lived at 1921 Walnut St. for more than 25 years. The university now says there are nine remaining tenants. The building is bounded by Berkeley Way, University Avenue and Oxford Street.
Tenants said they assumed when the UC regents purchased their building in July for $3.1 million that it would be demolished and they would be left with little notice, and nowhere to go. But the building was left untouched in the university’s plans until Tuesday night’s letter.
Tenants were first informed of the potential sale to the university last April, informing them of the university’s plan to “redevelop” the property.
Tenant Natalie Logusch, who has lived in the building for 11 years, said in an interview Wednesday that the university refused to meet with tenants to further explain what was planned or even offer a timeline. She and others formed the “Save 1921 Walnut Street” association; they have demonstrated in front of the building and asked for letters of support from local officials. They noted that tearing down the building would mean the loss of rent-controlled, affordable housing downtown.
Paul Wallace, a six-year tenant, said in an interview that the association plans on looking into their legal options. “We plan to fight this,” he said.
Both tenants said they were in disbelief and devastated when they received their letters Tuesday night.
“It’s heartless for someone to do this during a pandemic,” Wallace said.
Logusch said even with a potential 42 months of rental assistance, she may be priced out of not only Berkeley but also the Bay Area.
Letters from UC Berkeley student government representatives as well as Berkeley City Council, Berkeley’s Rent Stabilization Board and the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association were sent to UC supporting the tenants asking to preserve 1921 Walnut Street in their project plans.
The building’s site is now to be included in the student housing project to be presented to the UC Board of Regents for approval this July.
In addition to this project, UC Berkeley is also planning to build student housing on the People’s Park site, a historic site of anti-war activism in the 1960s and 1970s. The park will be partially closed until mid-February so that soil samples can be taken, according to Berkeleyside.
The Bay Area’s housing crisis has added pressure on the university to supply more student housing. UC Berkeley ranks last in UC’s system of the percentage of students who live in student housing. Berkeley is only at 23%, while most of the other UC campuses — Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, San Diego, Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara — are at 40% or above. Both the Riverside and Davis campuses are at 25% to 30%.
