Formal permits have been filed to build a 32-unit housing development in the Berkeley Hills on the former site of Oxford Elementary School, which was relocated due to landslide vulnerability.
The proposed housing development includes 32 three-story homes of approximately 1,515 square feet, each with a one-car garage, according to a permit filed by Studio KDA in December 2025. The site was sold by the Berkeley Unified School District to Panoramic Interests, the project’s developer, for $3 million in October 2025.
According to John Calise, the assistant superintendent of the Berkeley Unified School District Facilities Division, Oxford Elementary was relocated from 1130 Oxford St. to University Avenue in 2020 following the findings of a 2019 landslide deformation report.
The 2019 report placed the site’s location within the Keith Avenue landslide complex, an area with increased landslide risk in the event of a major earthquake.
“The report emphasized that while the buildings themselves had performed well over the years, the primary issue was the risk posed by the hillside on which the school sat, as well as the hillside surrounding the former Oxford campus,” Calise said in an email.
Studio KDA, a Berkeley-based architecture and interior design firm, is responsible for the site plan and design.
The permit filed by Studio KDA is a preliminary application filed under Senate Bill 330, signed into law in 2019, which aims to expedite residential construction in California. The permit specifies there will be no “very-low-income” housing within the plan.
The permit also accounts for the proposed demolition of the former Oxford Elementary building.
The permits for the project have not yet been approved. Panoramic Interests did not respond to requests for comment.