Alta Waverly

Alta Waverly is a flagship project in Oakland’s redeveloping Valdez Triangle, helping lead the transformation of an Auto Row district of car dealerships and surface lots near downtown into a pedestrian-friendly “complete” community. Since the City’s passage of the Broadway Valdez Specific Plan in 2014, thousands of new homes and a commercial district have sprung up here, knitting the urban fabric between downtown Oakland and its hillier, smaller-scale neighborhoods. With a bold yet fitting presence, Alta Waverly stands as a gateway between small and large scale, and old and new residential traditions.

Completed in 2019, Alta Waverly anchors the community commercial scale Valdez Street with 196 apartments, 31,500 square feet of retail, and 19,000 square feet of residential outdoor space. The irregular and sloping 1.25-acre site, previously garages and surface parking, fronts three streets, sandwiched between century-old bungalows and a nine-story parking garage. Alta Waverly introduces six stories of new urban fabric along Valdez and 23rd streets that steps down to a podium courtyard towards the neighboring two-story buildings. This courtyard includes gathering areas, an adjoining fitness room, and a freestanding indoor/outdoor lounge and workshop. Another, smaller courtyard provides green views to units in the deepest part of the site. A rooftop terrace overlooks downtown and Lake Merritt. The sloping site allows for two side-street parking entrances, one level for residents, the other for retail. Project materials invigorate the Uptown vernacular by blending rough concrete and wood, glazed storefronts, draped plantings, and striking turquoise ribbed panels used to create a basket weave and announce the new neighborhood.

The project incorporates sustainability strategies that have earned it a GreenPoint Silver certification, including 1:1 bike parking, on-site stormwater management/cistern, dark sky compliant fixtures, high performance enclosure, PV-ready rooftop and sunshading. Retail spaces are divisible, with steel-built mezzanines that can accommodate as-needed modification.